Judge, Jury, Executioner
by oldscout1011
Summary: Buffy, Willow and Tonks take a walk on the dark side of the Wizarding world.
1. Fear

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of characters. I'm just borrowing them for a while.  
  
Authors Note: This story takes place after Season 7 of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, after Season 5 of Angel The Series and sometime around book 5 of Harry Potter. It is a direct followup to my stories**

**"Judge, Jury..."**

**"The Key, The Smurf, and the Boy who what?"  
  
References are also made to my Angel series finale stories all posted on this site.  
  
"The Slayer and the Smurf"  
  
"Sans Shoes In LA"  
  
"The Lawyer, The Slayers, The Smurf, The Key, The Witch, and Neon Green Canvas Sneakers."**

**AN2:N**ow I understand why there were problems following the change of time lines and/or points of view. Apparently the couple of dashes I used to separate sections are no longer permissible on the site. I have adjusted the formatting, sorry for any confusion.

**Judge, Jury, Executioner.**

**Chapter 1.**

**"Fear"**

**By OldScout**

Flight. It felt like flying. A smile would have crept to her face if it wasn't for the pain. Air rushed by; she could sense the roof top approaching. Something warned her, new but familiar, she dodged to right just as her feet hit the asphalt roof. A flash of red flicked to her left.

* * *

"This is Tonks." Miss Summers said. No Buffy. They all called her Buffy. 

The woman Buffy was introducing was in her mid twenties but dressed a like a street kid. Tonks had short pink spiked hair, a gold stud in her nose and dangling earrings. She wore vintage seventies style bell bottomed jeans and a white t-shirt with the collar, sleeves and bottom hem ripped off. The words "Peek-A-Boo" in exactly the same color as her hair were scrawled across the front printed as if drawn with a child's marker.

"Tonks is a witch." Buffy announced causing the woman to blush.

"Like Willow?" One of the students asked. The gathered students were all young women ranging in age from eleven to seventeen.

"No," Buffy responded. "Tonks is a different kind of witch; she focuses most of her magic through a wand." Buffy nodded to Tonks who held up a thin stick of wood.

"Wow, like a mini-stake." One of the younger girls observed.

"Tonks is here to teach us about Witches and Wizards like her." Buffy said. "They live in a protected society and rarely have any contact with normal people."

"Hey." Tonks interrupted. "We're just as normal as anybody else."

"That's not saying much." One of the girls said. Causing laughs of agreement from the group.

"Okay," Buffy corrected. "They rarely have contact with non-magical people, like those we protect. When I learned about this Wizarding world, I also found out there are those in it who hate anybody not part of their little clique. They would be extremely dangerous to us if they ever find out who and what we are. Therefore, the Ministry of Magic's office of Magical Law Enforcement has sent Tonks to help teach us to protect ourselves from their kind of magic."

"I really don't know what I can teach you." Tonks finally said. "I know wand self defense, but you need a wand to do it with."

"Crucio." Miss Rosenberg, ah Willow, suggested quietly from her spot on a bench along the wall behind Tonks.

"What?" Tonks had gone pale as she turned toward Willow.

"Start with the Crucio curse."

"But without a wand they can't deflect it."

"Not supposed to." Willow was reading an old volume of a demonology book and hadn't looked up.

"Tonks," Buffy said getting her attention back from Willow. "We don't want you to teach us how to deflect or avoid the curses, we want you teach us what they feel like."

"What?!" Tonks had gone extremely pale as she held up her hands. "No way! I can't, it's an unforgivable I could go to prison or worse."

"Don't worry." Buffy said. "They sent you here to help us. This is what I want you to do. It's my responsibility. Besides, Willow put up a baffle they won't be able to detect the activity."

"But they read my wand whenever I report back." Tonks defended. "They'll know if I used an unauthorized curse, I have to file reports, what do I tell them?"

"Tell them The Chosen One directed you to." Buffy smiled. She was learning the politics of the Wizarding world weren't much different than the demon world and she was at the top of food chain in both. "Now start with me I'm going to want everyone to learn what it feels like and how to function under it."

* * *

She could feel her ankle twist. Let it twist she thought, don't fight it or it'll break. She fell and rolled to the right, pain surged up her leg, but nothing snapped. More pain to ignore. She rolled a couple of more times before finding her feet. 

"Crack!"

She had quickly learned what that sound meant and started to run again. Pain in her leg joined the general pain of the first cruico curse to be ignored. One stake and her knife were all that were left.

"Crack!"

Another had arrived; there were at least three more.

"Crack! Crack!"

Something was said behind her and green light flash just as she leaped over a skylight. She landed and rolled again this time she changed directions as she stood and flung her stake at the closest robed shadow.

"Crack!"

That was the fifth somewhere to her right. She headed for the edge of roof putting all of her remaining strength in the run; just as she leapt she heard the word.

"Immobulus!"

Her arms were bound to her body just she launched. She lost power from her leap; she knew she wasn't going to make it. She was helpless for the first time in a long time.

* * *

"You're Sarah?" 

"Who wants to know?" The teenaged girl shot back. She was maybe fifteen, probably younger. Her shoulder length black hair was highlighted with streaks of blue and pink and had several thin braids woven in. She wore an old army fatigue jacket, ripped and stained blue jeans, several t-shirts, a plaid over shirt and heavy military style boots.

The woman accosting the street kid had long wavy brown hair, wore expensive tight black leather pants and a brown canvas duster pulled snug against the chilly London Fall. "I'm Faith." She held out her hand.

"So?"

"They tell me your name is Sarah, is that right?"

"Hey, I done noth' wrong." The girl said. "You can go ask me foster mum, I'm almost always back by curfew."

Faith held her hands up in front of her and took a step back. "Hey, we're five by five here, I, just wanted to talk to you."

Sarah squinted at Faith. "You an American?"

"Born and raised." Faith flashed a confident smile. "Bet you no Americans are working for your London social services."

"What ya' want?"

"Just wanted to talk to you."

"Why?"

"Have you been having strange dreams?"

Sarah glared at Faith.

"Never had them much myself." Faith said. "B. tells me they get pretty freaky."

"What about the dreams?" Sarah had taken a step back getting ready to bolt from this strange woman.

"How about the strength?" Faith asked. "You notice you're quite a bit stronger then you used to be?"

The girl nodded almost imperceptibly.

"Now the strength that part I got." Faith grinned. "Make you top dog if you wanted it to, huh?"

"Didn't come soon enough for me stop me da when he was drunk one night." Sarah whispered.

"What happened?" Faith stepped closer to the girl.

"He got drunk started hittin' me ma. The next morning when she wouldn't wake up he hung hisself. I hid in the basement, found them both." Sarah's eyes flew open. "Why am I tellin' you this? I don't know you."

"Because we're sisters now." Faith said. "You can feel it."

"Aint got no real family left." Sarah replied belligerently.

"You do now. We can teach you. You see us in your dreams." Faith said. "You see us and the monsters."

"They're just dreams."

"No, they're real. Real memories of your sisters."

"What are you goin' ta teach me?"

Faith grinned. "To be a superhero."

* * *

Sarah struggled against the curse as her leap propelled her across the alley. There hadn't been enough strength left to make the next building, but she should have been able to grab something on the side. She was just getting free as she fell toward the side of the building. With a loud, echoing clang she crashed into the fire escape. The old iron railing buckled from the impact but and she was sure her shoulder dislocated. She didn't scream. She was beyond that. The lingering pain from the crucio curse still over shadowed the pain of her injuries. 

"This is going to hurt in the morning." She thought as she bounced off the railing and headed for the pavement below.

The loud metal crash of a buckling dumpster marked the end of the girls fall. Blackness gave way to stink and pain as Sarah regained her senses. One hand still worked. She reached up and pulled herself up in the container. She looked over the edge at the street seemed just meters away. Safety of the public street; they wouldn't follow her there, would they? She pulled herself out of the dumpster and fell to the ground. Using the side of the dumpster, she pulled herself up. Just a few meters.

"Crack!"

A cloaked figure stood between her and the street.

"Crack! Crack!" Two more appeared.

She limped toward them, no place else to go.

"Crack! Crack!"

She didn't see them. They were behind her and of no concern. She cradled her broken arm and shattered shoulder with her uninjured arm. She grasped the hilt of her knife in its sheath under the injured arm.

"What do we do with her?" One of her pursuers, a young male voice asked.

"We need to find out what she saw." An older female voice said from beneath a black hood and white mask.

"We also need to find out who she is." A husky male voice added. "No muggle can jump like that or withstand the curses. Bring her."

"Crack!" The last speaker was gone.

Sarah looked at the two still standing in front of her. They held wands pointed at her. She started walking directly at them. She wouldn't pull her knife until she was right on top of them. Hopefully they wouldn't think her a threat, just desperately trying to escape.

"Imperious."

A curse jumped at her and she didn't have time to dodge it. The compulsion to stop moving was overwhelming. She stopped and waited. This was a familiar curse. Tonks had cursed everybody with it that afternoon until they could break it with ease. Sarah waited and reveled in the pain.

The larger of the remaining wizards approached. He was the one who issued the imperious curse. "My, my, little muggle, you sure are durable. Just what exactly are you."

She said something but he couldn't hear her weakened voice barely escaping her lips.

He leaned over and repeated his question. "Speak up, Muggle, what are you?"

"A.." Sarah said very quietly.

He leaned closer. "A what? Come on, I command you, you little street whore. Speak up. What are you?" He didn't even feel it at first, just suddenly felt weak, like his knees didn't have the strength to hold his body up any more, like his wand was too heavy for his hand.

"A superhero." The girl said and pushed him away so hard he slammed against the near by brick wall. In the shadows of the alley, nobody saw the now blood covered knife she held against her chest as she trotted and limped toward the witch still standing between her and the street. With their attention on the girl, they didn't notice the wizard wasn't getting up.

"Immobulus." Came a voice from behind her.

The binding curse made her stumble but not fall.

"Immobulus!" The witch cursed as Sarah collided with her. The two women fell to the ground as the two wizards behind them came running up to help. Sarah rolled cleared and continued down the alley.

The witch groaned and held up a blood covered hand to the wizards as they approached. "She killed me."

Sarah was half way to the street. She could make out people now. She could see herself making it to The Tube, limping home, getting Buffy or one of the other girls to snap her shoulder back into place, taking a long hot soak in the Jacuzzi. She could smell the pizza they always had on Friday nights

"Avada Kedavra."

The pavement rushed up and slammed Sarah in the face. She bit something and felt dampness running down her chin. She rolled onto her side and heard her knife clang to ground. When did it become so heavy? She struggled to her knees and tried to stand.

"By Merlin, she's still alive." An astonished voice said behind her.

"Not for long." The other said. "Avada Kedavra. Avada Kedavra."

"Avada Kedavra. Avada Kedavra." The first added for good measure.

"Crack!"

"Crack!"

The two remaining Wizards were gone taking the bodies of their two companions and leaving the body of a sixteen year old superhero.

To be continued......


	2. Waking Up Dead

**Chapter 2**

**"Waking Up Dead"**

**By OldScout**

"Is this Sunnydale?"

Buffy was sitting on a bench in the middle of a cemetery on a bright California summer day. She looked to the person sitting on the bench next to her. She was sixteen, stocky build with shiny short black hair. The girl was wearing desert camouflage pants cut off at the knee, sandals and a tight red cotton tank top.

"I don't know why I come back here sometimes, Sarah." Buffy replied. "I guess it still feels like home."

"But you were like my age when you moved here." Sarah said. "Where did you grow up? Why isn' that what you think of?"

"I guess that's because this is where my life changed the most." Buffy replied. "It's where I left my mom and so many friends."

"Do you miss them?"

"Everyday."

"Will you miss me?"

"What happened?" Buffy turned fully so she was facing the young girl.

"I don't know." Sarah sighed. "I guess saw something I wasn't supposed to. But I don't know what I saw."

"I've always been proud of you." Buffy said and pulled the girl into a brief hug. "You were one of the first we found after Sunnydale. You're proof we did the right thing."

"I failed."

"You didn't fail, I know failure and you're not it." Buffy scrutinized the girl. "Do you remember what happened?"

"No, I just woke up and knew I didn't make it home." A shy smile came to the girl's lips. "Ya know, for the longest time I thought I would never have someplace I felt at home. Thank you for comin' for me. I would have died on the streets before now and I never would have known happiness."

Buffy hugged the girl again. "Faith will take this hard." She said. "You reminded her of her at your age." She smiled at the thought. "Except for the part were she was a homicidal manic.

"Do ya think I'll go to heaven? Will me ma be there?" She frowned. "Will me da be there?"

"You'll be happy." Buffy said. "Trust me. If your parents are there, they'll be there for you; like they should have been when you were growing up."

The girl gave a small lonely smile. "I have to go now. Please don't ever quit. There are more girls like me who need you." Sarah got up and walked down the path and out the gate.

A loud ringing woke Buffy from her dream. Buffy rolled over and picked up the phone. "Yea, Vi?" Buffy listened to Vi who always got wound up after doing night duty as receptionist. "I know Sarah didn't come home last night." Buffy said. "Call the police see if anybody found her. Give me fifteen, I'll be down."

* * *

"What do we have?" Inspector Clayson stood in the alley looking at the shape of a body under a plastic tarp.

"Girl." One of the senior officer replied. "Around sixteen; pretty beat up, but no obvious cause off death." He held up a couple of evidence bags. The larger bag held a long blood covered dagger and the other an ID card. "The dagger was found next to her and this private school ID card was the only thing in her pockets. Her name was Sarah O'Malley."

"Has anybody contacted the school yet? Get a family contact list." Inspector Clayson ask as he took the bag with the ID in it. "Summers School for Girls. I've heard of them, they're new they just opened. They specialize in helping troubled girls."

"Yea, somebody just went to ring them. I guess this girl was more trouble then they could handle." The cop observerd. The two walked further into the alley. "We also found what appears to be a blood stain here." He pointed out a marked spot as they walked. "And one here." He pointed to another marked stain along the wall. "And it appears somebody fell into this dumpster." He pointed up the building. "From up there." There were officers inspecting a damaged fire escape railing. "From the remnants of trash on the girl, we think she's the one who fell."

"We'll know for sure once the finger prints and maybe fiber samples have been run." Clayson inspected the dumpster. The thin metal tops were crushed and sides buckled from the impact. "The damage in consistent with a body hitting it, but I'd doubt anybody could get up, climb out and walk away from a fall like that."

"She didn't get very far."

"There was somebody else here, at least two." Clayson pointed to the blood stains. "Somebody lost a lot of blood and I'd bet those stains match that knife." They started back up the alley. "Now we just need some forensics to tell us who really used that knife. Did you call the hospitals to keep a look out for knife wounds?"

"Yes, Sir."

* * *

The body was gone but the ground was marked were she'd been found. The police and crime scene team continued to gather evidence. Inspector Clayson was struck by the amount of damage the girl seemed to have. A broken and dislocated shoulder, an ankle swollen from a sprain and numerous cuts and contusions including a broken nose and bleeding mouth from where she hit her face when she fell for the last time. But what killed her? None of the injuries seemed life threatening, no bullet wounds, no knife wounds, her neck didn't seem broken. Perhaps a toxicology report would shed some light on it.

"Sir," the senior uniformed officer said. "There's somebody here from the school. We told them it was too late to identify the body here, they'd have to go morgue but they want to see the alley."

Inspector Clayson didn't know what kind of person he was expecting to be sent from the school but it wasn't anyone like he found. Perhaps he was expecting a middle aged or older man or a matronly woman like an old school marm. Instead he found two petite young women in their early twenties. The one with blond hair wore blue jeans and a long blue navy pea coat with a matching knit hat pulled low over her head. The other, a red head, was wearing a full length denim skirt, brown leather jacket and a dark green and purple beret.

"You're in charge?" the blond asked as Clayson approached.

"I'm Inspector Clayson." He offered his hand.

"I'm Buffy Summers and this is Willow Rosenberg." Buffy offered. The police officer was just over six foot tall, no England now, two meters, was probably in his mid-forties and had salt and pepper black hair. He wore a tan trench coat over a suit and white leather high top basketball sneakers.

"I'm sorry, ladies, but the body has already been transported to the morgue." Clayson said quietly, trying to keep them calm. "You'll have to go down there to identify it."

"Can we see the alley?" Willow asked.

"This is a crime scene we can't let it be compromised."

Willow looked around the inspector. "Really?"

Behind him Clayson saw a number of uniformed and un-uniformed cops milling about in the alley. Some where even smoking and he watched horrified as one of the older uniforms flicked a cigarette butt to the ground.

"Just let us walk the length of the alley once." Buffy said. "I promise we won't drop or pick up any cigarette butts."

"Why?" Clayson was about to let them in. Instinct told him these two knew something about what had happened that he didn't. He needed a way to question them discreetly perhaps a walk up the alley would give him the opportunity.

"Sarah was my student." Buffy said. "She was my responsibility and the school was the only thing she had left to call family. We owe it to her to know what happened."

"We might be able to help." Willow suggested. "We know," she frowned. "Ah, knew her perhaps we'll see something."

Buffy walked quietly next to Inspector Clayson while Willow followed a step behind. First they the stood over the body outline. "She was face down?" Buffy asked. "Head toward the street."

Clayson nodded.

"She was running." Buffy looked deeper into the alley. "She was attacked from behind."

"You have experience at this?" Inspector Clayson was amazed at how quickly the young woman had put together the details. They walked further into the alley, the two women walking quietly to either side of the detective. No one said anything as they passed the marked stains of blood. He watched Miss Summers look at the dumpster and her glance immediately ran up the wall to the fire escape. Then she did something nobody else had. Her gaze continued up and across the alley to the roof of other building. Dear God, he thought, did that girl jump from one building trying to reach the other. Who was she running from?

"Thank you detective, I think we'll head down town now."

As they cleared the alley, Buffy leaned over to Willow. "We need to get to the roof of that building." The two immediately turned and entered the building they thought Sarah had jumped from.

"Did he see me look up here?" Buffy asked as they reached the roof with the help of a little slayer strength on the pad locked door at the top.

"I think so." Willow replied. "We don't have much time."

"Do you feel the magic?"

"Some up here, but nothing like in the alley. She was killed with it."

"I know." Buffy frowned. "I could smell that horrid curse."

"Smell?"

"Best I can describe it. That killing curse has the smell of death."

"There was so much magic down there I couldn't tell the difference without really concentrating. Which, of course, no time."

They reached the edge but didn't get close enough to be seen from the street. Buffy pointed at the roof. "Scuff marks, she jumped here, but it looks like she tripped." She looked back along the roof and started retracing the girl's steps. "She jumped the skylight and changed directions." She pointed to marks in the dirt and stones on the roof. "She rolled when she landed. Good girl." They circled the skylight and followed the trail back. When they reached the knee high wall at the edge of the building Buffy looked at the ground. "She didn't land right here. See that scuff she fell and rolled but it wasn't very controlled."

Looking across to building Sarah had jumped from Buffy said. "I need to follow her back as far as I can."

"Okay, I'll follow in the car." Willow agreed quietly she pulled out their walkie-talkie cell phone and turned it on. "Just let me know your progress."

Buffy unbuttoned her jacket, backed up several meters, ran to the edge and leaped to the other building. Willow headed back to the stairs.

* * *

Inspector Clayson watched the two women leave. He'd have to have a talk with them later. For having just seen where one of their students was just murdered, they were pretty calm. Perhaps too calm? He looked back up at the fire escape and scanned to the other building, then back to the fire escape. The damage looked like something hit it coming in at an angle, not just straight down.

One the team investigating the fire escape approached and held up a plastic bag with a piece of dark cloth. "We found this." He handed it over. "It looks just like the girl's jacket. Wasn't it torn on the back?"

The cloth did look like her jacket. Forensics would be able to tell for sure. Clayson looked back up at the building. Was there somebody up there? Did he just see shadows? Hear voices? "Come with me." He said to the officer.

Almost to the roof, Inspector Clayson thought he felt something, like he was being watched. He stopped the officer with him motioned for him to be quiet. The two stood in silence. Was that somebody breathing? There was nobody there. It was a large bare landing; no doorways, no nooks or alcoves, no boxes or debris, absolutely no place to hide. "Let's go he muttered and started up the last flight to the roof. The second the two were on the roof a red headed woman wearing a green and purple beret disassociated herself from the shadows and ran soundlessly down the stairs.

Once on the roof, Inspector Clayson had the officer with him start searching toward the alley where the body was found while he started looking in a different direction. The broken pad lock on the door looked fresh. The girl may have been up here for some reason, but what? He stopped and looked out over the city trying get his bearings. Movement two buildings over caught his attention. Somebody seemed to be searching for something. He shielded his eyes from the morning sun to get a better look. Was that Miss Summers? Impossible. She would have had to head to that building at a dead run after they left the alley. But it sure looked like her. Same Navy pea coat, same knit hat same blond hair. The girl disappeared around a structure on the roof.

"Inspector," The officer said. "It looks like somebody was up here recently." He pointed to marks on the edge of the wall about even with the fire escape and the dumpster below. "There are scuff marks over there. We might be able to match them to her shoes."

"Okay, get a team up here. Let's do a workup just to be thorough."

* * *

Standing in the shadows on the roof of the other building two wizards stood watching the police below. They were hidden by an obscuring spell as they studied the investigation. This would be a complex clean up and it was getting worse by the minute. They'd arrived too late to clean the scene before the muggle police arrive. The death eaters had apparently found a silencing charm for their wands that made it difficult to track them when they used an unforgivable.

Now the Chosen One was involved. They'd been briefed. All of the cleaning crews had been briefed but few believed. If they hadn't seen a young muggle woman leap from building to building like they'd just witnessed, they weren't sure if they'd ever have believed.

"What do we do now?" One of the Wizards asked the other.

"This doesn't change anything. We can still make them believe they found the drugs on her and in her." The older one said. "A muggle street urchin crams too much of that crap they are so found of into her arm. Nobody will care."

"The Chosen One will care."

"Why? Her pet witch probably sensed the magic and they came to investigate."

"Then what is she looking for? Why is she jumping to all those buildings?"

"She must be looking for signs of the Death Eaters who did this."

"And why would Death Eaters kill a muggle street kid like that?"

"I don't know, target practice. Don't ask me, I'm not a Death Eater." He took out his wand. "We'd better get to work."

**To be continued.........**


	3. D O A

**Chapter 3**

**"D.O.A."**

**By OldScout**

The room was filled with shadows. How could a room be filled with shadows? The light always seemed to be behind something nothing was fully illuminated yet the occupants could still see. They got used to it.

Two figures wearing black robes and white masks walked down the middle of the room through other similarly dressed people. The others stepped aside as the two made their way to the dais at the far end of the room.

Several robed figures stood on the dais and one with longer, more luxuriant robes sat in a large chair in the middle. A large hood was pulled up hiding the man's face in its shadow and long billowing sleeves covered his hands. If it wasn't for the slight movement of labored breathing one might think this nothing more than a pile of robes.

The two approached and dropped to one knee. "Master," The taller servant said. "We beg your indulgence."

"Where isss the girl?" The Master asked, his hissing voice not much more than whisper.

"We could not control her." The shorter admitted. "She broke the imperius curse and stabbed Vintor. The immobulus curse only slowed her down and she gutted Heleena as well."

"She got away? You allowed a witness to escape."

"The killing curse stopped her." The taller said. "But it didn't kill her."

"Nobody is immune from the killing curse." One of the Wizards on the platform said.

"Yesss. One is." The Master stated. "Did you finish her?"

"It took several curses but the muggle is dead." The shorter proclaimed.

"And your unlucky colleaguesss?" The Master asked.

"We took them to Sebastian."

"So you are capable of intelligent thought. Amazing." The Master raised his arm revealing a hand so emaciated the skin stretched tight making it look skeletal. A black wood wand dangled from the finger tips. "Crucio." The single curse was so powerful that both wizards fell to the ground screaming and writhing in pain.

"Perhapsss," The Master stately under the screams. "The death of thisss muggle will work in our favor. When the next is called, she will look for the killersss. She will not be welcome in the Wizarding world, they will come to usss when they realize how weak they are."

"What kind of muggle is nearly immune to the curses?" One of the Master's Right Hands asked.

"The kind that the killing curse was created for, The Chosen One, the SSSSLayer."

* * *

Somehow it was exactly where Buffy had expected to end up, a warehouse. It was always an old warehouse in one of the worst parts of town. She walked along the lower roof and looked in the clerestory windows. The glass was covered with years of dirt and revealed only shadows inside the building. Glass was scattered on the roof where one of the windows was recently broken. Buffy squatted and looked inside. Faint light from the grime covered windows that circled the upper walls was just enough to reveal a debris covered floor scattered with broken boxes, old industrial equipment and piles of dumped building material. Through the stale odor of rotting wood, stagnant water and years of dust and dirt, Buffy could smell something familiar and fresh, death.

Stepping through the window, Buffy dropped two meters to a catwalk below the window. The contraption creaked and swayed from her weight but held up. Tracks on the dust along the platform clearly showed where somebody had run along it up to the window she'd just come in.

Buffy frowned as she pictured Sarah running along the catwalk avoiding those horrid little curses. She was just a child who'd never had a break. She'd finally found a place in the world and was creating a life for herself and now this. Was she afraid as she ran along here dodging the flashing light of the curses, or just concerned? She wasn't one of the originals; she hadn't walked into Hell and hadn't fought the Turak Han. She still knew simple fear. Buffy could feel Sarah's anxiety; hear her heart beat as she raced along this narrow path.

The path led to the floor where it disappeared in the litter and debris. Buffy didn't need a path to lead her to what she was looking for, her nose was enough. Even if it wasn't the destination was obvious. A body hung from the ceiling, its wrists chained together and stretched up over its head; its toes barely touching the floor. Buffy approached cautiously. In her normal life, the obviously dead, scorched and mutilated body would come to life and start thrashing about.

Buffy looked at it, no, this body was just dead. It was apparently male stripped from the waste up. Pencil thin burns crisscrossed his face and body. Deep cuts lacerated the torso and pierced cheeks, one eye dangled out of a socket and the few remaining tufts of hair were shriveled and singed.

Not touching anything, Buffy made a beeline for the door. The London police were a lot more thorough then the Sunnydale variety she didn't want to leave any more traces back to her as possible. The second she cleared the building she was holding her walkie-talkie phone. "Where you at?" She said into the bright pink phone.

"Parked a block away from the district." Willow had parked her car when Buffy had entered the warehouse district. A car driving slowly through the area at this time of morning on a weekend might have gotten somebody's attention.

"Okay, I'll meet you by Hathaway." Buffy said as she started jogging down the block staying on the east side, close to the buildings she ran mostly in the shadows. Just as she turned the corner and headed up to Hathaway, she saw a payphone. She stopped and picked it up. Down the street, she could see Willow's car roll slowly past.

Keeping her thin leather gloves on, Buffy held the receiver and dialed the police emergency number.

"What is your emergency?" A bored sounding voice asked.

"There's a body hanging in a warehouse." Buffy said very quietly. She gave the address of the warehouse before the operator could ask anymore questions, put the phone down leaving the line open and walked quickly up the road to meet Willow.

* * *

Inspector Clayson walked into the office late in the afternoon, it was almost time to go and it was the first time he'd been there all day. Two bodies just miles apart on the same day. Where they related? Probably not; but there were really very few coincidences in the world. The second victim was definitely murder. Sometime during the night somebody had done some terrible things to that man. The brass was already screaming. Imagine the head lines if how this man was tortured were ever leaked. They had to find the sadistic SOB who did it and find him fast. The girl, Sarah, he wasn't quite so sure about. He remembered being certain earlier in the day that she had to have been murdered. But that was before they found what appeared to be large quantity of drugs on her.

A slip of paper was placed on the desk in front of Inspector Clayson. He scanned it without looking up at the person who'd delivered the report and stood waiting for him to read it. "Speedball?" He looked up at the young man standing in front of him. "You think she was doing speedballs?" It matched the apparent contents of the baggies she was carrying but those details where not given to the lab. They didn't want other details influencing what was found in the victim's blood.

"This combination has become quite popular of late." The technician replied.

"How so?"

"This is the fourth D.O.A. I've had in here in the past year, and not one before that in the five years I've been on the job here."

"And this?" He pointed to a different line item.

"A little PCP mixed in. That's what's unique the quantities are always the same."

"PCP? That would explain the attempting to fly part." Clayson looked up. "Thanks, Jerry."

The young technician walked away as Clayson looked at the other report on the contents of drugs the girl had been found with. These weren't just personal use. If she'd been arrested carrying that much high quality stuff, she'd be looking at some really long hard time, juvenile or not. What about the other stuff? He was sure there was something else. He searched his notes and the inventory sheet. Why had he been thinking this was a murder? There were no weapons found, no blood, nothing, just a dead girl lying in an alley all pumped up on some pretty nasty shit. He looked at the ID card again.

Just exactly what is the Summers School For Girls? Why hadn't Miss Summers been so concerned about losing one of her students? Perhaps she didn't care. He looked at the toxicology report again and at the analysis of the bag. Was this girl carrying for Miss Summers? Was that school just some front for some kind of drug ring? How many more orphans were living at that school? What were they doing tonight? Clayson's heart sank and he picked up a phone. First he needed a warrant to search the girl's possessions, common practice when investigating a death. Next he'd call Family Services to see if there were any more of their girls living at that school, at least he be able to get them out before something happened to them. Perhaps a call to the licensing board was in order as well. He started making notes. Somebody had supplied that girl with some extremely potent drugs and the person at the top of his very short list was one Miss Buffy Summers.

**To be continued.......**


	4. Decay

**Chapter 4**

**"Decay"**

**By OldScout**

The large house in the suburbs hid behind an old stone wall with a large gate permanently rusted open. Ankle high lights lined the edge of the crumbling driveway as it curved toward the house. Two black sedans rolled silently up the drive coming to a stop in front of the main door. Two people, a man and a woman stepped from each vehicle. As they stepped onto the porch they sensed somebody near by. Standing near the house, just off the porch and mostly in the shadows was a teenage girl.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"I'm Inspector Clayson." One of the men said. "We're here to see Miss Summers."

The girl nodded and held a walkie-talkie up as she stepped back into the shadows. "Tell Buffy she has company." She said before she disappeared into the night. On the street four police cruisers pulled up waiting for a call for support.

Inspector Clayson reached up to knock on the door which opened before he touched it. Another teenage girl stared at them for a second.

"Is Miss Summers here?"

"Are you evil?" The girl asked after looking the group up and down.

"We're with the police." Clayson replied. "I'm Inspector Clayson."

The girl stepped back from the door and turned away. "BUFFY!!"

The group took the opportunity to step into the house. The three police officers really didn't need to be invited since they had a warrant and Miss Peach with children services didn't need to be invited since the house was licensed and she could come for inspection at any time.

Miss Peach looked around the house. She'd been here before and knew some of the girls. This wasn't a normal foster home or girl's school. Many of the girls attended regular public school, some attended local private schools and some were tutored on premises. The mix of girls was strange too. There were girls from city foster care and there were others she was quite sure came from affluent families and some that were even from other countries. She'd never been able to find out what the exact criteria was for a girl to be accepted here but hadn't really cared because they accepted some of the hard to place girls and they all seemed to thrive. Now this, a possible drug connection; was this just a front for a drug ring? Had she and everybody else at children's services been deceived? She hoped not.

So this was the Summers School for girls. Clayson thought as he looked around. It was bigger on the inside then it looked from the drive. The rooms were large and the and deep. The building probably had several additions stretching out the back. Two girls sat on the floor at a coffee table doing home work while another sat at a dining table in an adjoining sitting room. A large stone and brick fire place filled the wall between the main living room and the sitting room. It probably opened into both spaces. Hanging above the mantel near the ceiling was a finely carved sign that read "Not For Self." What the hell did that mean?

Miss Summers came in from the back of the house. She carried a glass of milk and a sandwich. As she approached she said. "Inspector Clayson, Mrs. Peach, what can I do for you?"

"I am here to the two remaining family services girls from the home." Mrs. Peach replied solemnly. She didn't want to engage Miss Summers in any small talk; it would just make it harder. "Your foster license has been suspended pending the investigation of Miss O'Malley's death. Can you please have Miss Smithson and Miss Klymore come down here."

Before Buffy could say anything Inspector Clayson spoke up "We also have a search warrant for Miss O'Malley's residence. Miss Peach is here to retrieve the girls but we are here to examine the premises." As he was speaking one of the other officers was signaling out the door. "Now if you would have everybody gather in the sitting room so they do not interfere with my officers." As he spoke five uniformed police officers were entering the house.

"What?" Buffy was dumb founded. "You want to what?" she looked at Clayson then at Mrs. Peach. "You want the girls?"

"Please, Miss Summers, your cooperation will make this a lot easier." He was already directing the officers to different parts of the house.

"Stop!" Buffy said with a loud clear voice. "Nobody does anything without my say so." With Buffy's word, all the police officers found their ways blocked by surprisingly confident young women.

"Miss Summers, you really don't.." Clayson started to object but Buffy held up her hand. "Just let me get my lawyer here. Mary, call Gunn."

"Miss Summers, we are not required to wait for consul."

"GUNN!!!!"

Buffy cringed away from the girl's scream. She turned to the girl. "He's down stairs in the gym," she pointed to the phone. "Why don't you just call him?"

"You're lawyer lives here?" Clayson asked.

"He's staying here while visiting London." Buffy clarified. "Can you at least wait until he looks at your warrant? If he says so then we'll cooperate fully." She turned to one of the other girls. "Can you go get Heidi and Becca?" She didn't need Gunn to check out Mrs. Peach's papers. She'd been half expecting this but hadn't expected it so soon."

Clayson motioned for the officers to back off. "You've got three minutes."

Everybody quietly stood their ground until they heard someone approaching from the back of the house. A tall black man with a shaved head and dressed in knee length ripped sweat pants, a blue tee shirt and old sneakers walked toward them. As he approached, Buffy Said "Inspector Clayson, this is Charles Gunn, our attorney." She turned to Attorney Gunn. "Charles, Inspector Clayson has a warrant to search the house, can you check it out?"

Gunn barely looked at Buffy as he approached the Inspector. To keep control of the situation, he needed to focus his attention on the officer. He held out his hand and asked as he shook the Inspector's hand. "Inspector Clayson, what is the meaning of this search?"

"Attorney Gunn?" Inspector Clayson asked as he released the shake. "I am not aware of an Attorney Gunn and I'm quite familiar with most of the local attorneys."

Gunn smiled. "Oh, I'm not licensed to practice in Great Britain yet; however I am well versed in British law and am quite capable of advising Miss Summers." He held out his hand again, this time palm up. "May I see the warrant? I'm sure it is quite clear in what you're allowed access to."

Clayson removed the paper from an inside pocket of his over coat.

Charles inspected the paper for several minutes and handed it back. "It says you are to search Miss O'Malley's residence for any clues or artifacts that may be of direct or indirect baring on the circumstances of her death; all quite standard." The police started to fan out through the house again as Gunn turned to Buffy. "Why don't we show the fine officers to Sarah's apartment? I'm sure we don't want to have them wondering all over the school looking for it."

"What?" Inspector Clayson asked as Gunn handed the warrant back to him.

"The warrant is quite clear; you are to search Sarah O'Malley's residence, which is up stairs. I believe it is apartment 3B."

"This way gentlemen." Buffy said and started up the stairs.

"Now wait a minute." Inspector Clayson said. "You expect me to only search her bed room. You can't expect me to accept a single bed room as the girl's residence." Clayson looked at the warrant. He couldn't believe it, it did say the girl's residence at this address, and it didn't just say the address. "This whole house is her residence."

"Actually," Mrs. Peach spoke up. "All of the city's correspondence with Miss O'Malley did get addressed to apartment 3B." She showed him the papers she held for the other two girls indicating their addresses as 4A and 5C.

"Tell me Inspector," Gunn said. "If you were to search a student's college dorm room, would you expect you're warrant to give you free access to every student's room?"

"Very well." Clayson motioned for the officers to all go up stairs. "I'll be right up."

The police followed one of the girls so Buffy could stay and talk to the inspector.

"Inspector, what exactly are you looking for?" Buffy glared at Clayson. She had a bad feeling this wasn't routine and it was just the start of something.

"I'm sorry I'm not at liberty to say." Clayson looked at the people around him and he just couldn't envision these people being involved in a drug ring. But they would know they could be inspected by Family Services anytime if they continued accepted homeless and foster girls into the school.

"Tell me inspector, have you had any luck identifying the other people who were in the alley last night?"

"There was no one else, Miss O'Malley was found alone."

"What about the blood stains?"

Clayson had headed toward the stairs to join the inspection of the girl's room. He stopped in mid stride. "What blood stains?"

"Inspector, Willow and I were at the scene, we saw the two fresh pools of blood you had marked with evidence tags."

"I'm sorry Miss Summers, there was no blood at the scene, no sign of violence." Clayson took a deep breath. "It was an overdose."

The whole house seemed to become still. Everybody standing around Clayson stared at him. "An overdose of what?" Buffy's voice wasn't much more then a whisper.

"I'm not a liberty to say, this is an on going investigation." He started toward the stairs again.

Inspector Clayson was not a soft man. He ran several kilometers a day, worked out at the gym three times a week and had a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. The strength of the grip that took hold of his elbow and turned him back around was unlike anything he ever expected. He looked down at a petite blond with eyes of stone.

"What do you mean overdose?"

Was that a question or a threat? Clayson thought looking at Miss Summers again and re-evaluating her. "Miss Summers, young women do not normally drop dead for no reason. There were no signs of a struggle or injuries. We thought the death might be drug related and the toxicology report confirmed it." He pulled his arm free of her loosened grip. "Now if you will excuse, I have work to do."

Buffy felt a strong arm around her as she took a step back and tried to sit in a chair that wasn't there. How could they think that Sarah was involved in drugs? No wait, they thought it was the whole school. She started feeling weak. Just the accusation could mean the loss of the school as politicians started pulling their licenses and permits. Investigations into funding of the school would be started that wouldn't stop even if exonerated for the drug charges. The creative funding through the Council would open up even more lines of investigation. Buffy knew that once the bureaucracy started rolling on something like this it would not stop until all the politicians had their pound of flesh.

"Careful there Girl." Gunn said as he caught Buffy and led her to a nearby couch. Turning to one of the other girls he asked. "Where's Willow?"

"She's walking with Dana."

Gunn grimaced. It was dangerous to interrupt Willow when she was with Dana. It was dangerous to do anything with Dana. "You girls stay here with Buffy and Mrs. Peach I'm going up stairs with our guests."

If Inspector Grayson had any doubts about the innocence of Miss Buffy Summers, they were gone now. He'd been in this business long enough to know when somebody was lying to him or hiding something from him. The second Miss Summers and Miss Rosenberg had shown up that morning he knew they were hiding something. Something else, Miss Buffy Summers had a short temper and an act first ask questions later response to confrontation. She was definitely not the kind of person to be shaping impressionable young minds.

The officers were gathered along the brightly lit hallway near one of the rooms. The light from a camera flashed off the walls as the Inspector reached the 'apartment'. Inside he was surprised to find it really was a small flat. A small kitchenette stretched along the left wall in the middle of the room and a small table just big enough for two wooden chairs to be pulled up was pushed against the opposite wall. In the far back of the room a single twin bed sat along one wall opposite a large wooden wardrobe. The front of the room nearest the door held several pieces of worn furniture; a couple of end tables, a two seat couch, a small over stuffed recliner and what appeared to an antique Victorian high back wooden chair. The walls were covered with band posters from a number of different tastes and styles.

Clayson stopped as he took his third step into the room there was something else on the walls, weapons. Secured over the bed was an old crossbow. The string was gone, the mechanism was missing parts and the bow looked like it would shatter if it was strung. A short sword and a long broad sword hung on the wall in the front of the room, both hanging from hooks about waist level with blades pointed down. He also noticed that not all of the posters were music or movie posters some were advertisements for swords, medieval armament and other accouterments used by re-enactors. This girl was a serious history buff, but it was still not appropriate to allow or even encourage her to have full size prop replicas of dangerous weapons. He leaned over to look at the swords. They weren't just replicas; both weapons had razor sharp blades. His experienced eye even suggested that these might not be just replicas, they may be original weapons. What the hell was a sixteen year old foster kid doing with fully functional antique swords hanging on her wall?

"--"

As Inspector Clayson started his search of Sarah O'Malley's flat, two young teenage girls made their way down to the foyer. Both girls carried knapsacks and duffle bags. "Hello Mrs. Peach." One of the two said in greeting.

"Buff...Miss Summers, what's going on?" The other girl asked.

Seeing them coming down the stairs, Buffy pulled herself out of her initial stages of panic and met the girls with Mrs. Peach. "Because of Sarah, the city has decided that you girls shouldn't stay here until they know what happened." She motioned with a slightly raised hand for them not to speak. "Now, I'm sure they'll place you with nice families. Just remember to stay in at night; you don't want to be getting into any trouble."

"You mean we're not to go out." The girl hesitated. "At all?"

"Now you don't want to get your new families in trouble, do you?"

Both girls smiled thinly and said solemnly. "You can count on us." They took turns hugging Buffy and the other girls and turned to the door then one turned back. "Will we still be able to go to the funeral?"

Buffy looked at Mrs. Peach who replied. "I can't see why not."

"Once everything is settled, we'll let you know when and where." Buffy told Mrs. Peach.

"Do you think Faith will come?" one of the girls asked.

"Last I heard she was in Argentina." Buffy replied. "But we're trying to get word to her."

"--"

As Charles Gunn arrived at Sarah's room, he was in time to see the police removing the girl's swords from the wall. "Inspector, look at this." One of the officers said looking up from a drawer.

The drawer contained mostly clothes and underwear but scattered through out the personal items where a number of hand carved wooden stakes. Something familiar registered as Inspector Clayton took out one of the stakes. He showed it to one of the uniforms with him. "Look familiar?"

The officer was the same man who had helped him search the roof above the crime scene. "It looks a little like that one I found imbedded in the duct work on the roof."

"Not a little." Clayson dropped the stake into an evidence bag he was carrying and motioned for one of the officers to collect the rest. "A lot." A large flat green stained box on the bottom shelf of a night table caught his attention next. He moved the box to the top of the stand and opened it. The velvet lined box held an expensive looking knife with the outline carved out for a second knife next to it.

Clayson picked the knife up and examined it. Turning it over in his latex gloved hands he carefully studied every detail. Why did this knife look so familiar? Faint dots seemed to connect in the back of his mind. This knife was a clue to the murder, no death, of Sarah O'Malley. He looked at the empty slot for the second knife. Where was the mate? Why was this knife important beyond all the other strange things in this room? Why did he keep thinking of this as a murder and not just an overdose? Well, if the girl was running drugs for these people then it was murder. Where was the other knife, why did this one feel so familiar? It's like he'd held it before.

"What, my I ask, are you actually looking for?" Charles Gunn asked from the doorway.

"Anything that will give us a better idea of why we have a dead sixteen year old who was in your care." Clayson replied as he returned the knife to its box which he then handed to one of the officers. "And can you tell me exactly why a sixteen year old girl was armed to teeth?"

"I'm not exactly involved in the day to day activities of the school." Gunn replied. "I only stay here when I'm in town.

"Tell me, Counselor, when my warrant to search the whole house arrives, how many more weapons will I find?" Clayson looked around the room. "The swords and knives," He glanced at the cross bow on the wall over the bed. "And other weapons seem just a little too casual in here to be an anomaly."

"I wouldn't know about that." Gunn replied. "But what do swords and knives and other weapons have to do with Miss O'Malley's death if, it was as you said, an overdose?"

"That, Sir, is what I intend to find out."

Twenty minutes later the police stood in the hallway just outside of Sarah's flat. Inspector Clayson looked at the inventory of items taken as evidence; weapons, antique and new, clothes apparently with old blood stains and books about witch craft and daemons. What did all this stuff have to do with a kid dieing of an overdose? He had no idea but somehow his gut told him it was directly related. His phone rang.

The conversation was short.

"What's the status?" The lead officer asked the Inspector.

"We won't get the extended warrant."

"What? The judge has never had problems justifying going after dealers and a big operation like this could be...."

"Word started coming down from way up, we're barking up the wrong tree."

"How far up?"

"No idea, but somebody convinced him we had enough."

"Don't tell me they're going to bury that poor girl's case right along with her."

"Family Services is involved so now the other licensing bureaus will be too. Whatever is going on in this school is about to be exposed one way or another." Clayson said glumly as he put his phone away. "Now I'm ready to go home."

"--"

Buffy sat on the back patio staring into the night. The police had been gone for over an hour but she knew at least two cars were still parked watching the house. It was going to be tough to send the girls on patrol for a while so she had asked the council to have some of the older girls cover the school's territory until this blew over. She couldn't send the girls out and she couldn't let the territory go un-protected. Something was going on in the underworld and she needed to keep a lid on it.

Crack! Crash! "I'm alright!"

Buffy cringed and smiled. The house had gotten used to Tonks' arrivals. It seemed after a couple of days of being a smooth professional witch she'd gotten lazy and started letting her true colors show.

"Hoy there Buffy." Tonks said stepping out on to the patio. "What's up?"

Buffy looked at her friend.

The witch's smile fell. "Buffy, what's wrong?" Tonks sat on the steps next to Buffy.

"Sarah was killed last night." Buffy's voice was colder then she meant. She knew, hoped, Tonks hadn't been directly involved in the cleaning, but it was still her people who ruined the only thing Sarah had that her mother had given her, her name.

"Dear." Tonks whispered. "I didn't know. I'm sorry." She choked a breath. "How? Do you know who or what?" She just didn't know how to ask the questions or if she should. Tonks knew that slayers died, but this was the first since she became involved, and she knew the girl. They'd had a lot in common.

"The killing curse." Buffy said bluntly. "She was killed by your peoples' killing curse."

"That's not possible." Tonks started to defend. "The ministry can tell when it's used. There was one used last night on muggle and the cleaners took......." The young witch's eyes opened wide. "By Merlin they wouldn't have, not one of yours, not Sarah."

"That's how they cover it?" Buffy asked coldly. "Plant drugs, make evidence disappear, change memories."

"There are new rules, if you're involved we're to let you handle it." Tonks started to stand. "If you don't want me around here anymore, I'd understand." Her mind was spinning what had they done? Didn't those stupid cleaners have any idea what this kind of thing would do to a person's reputation? But then again, they didn't care it was just another muggle to them. She felt a hand on her arm.

"You weren't involved." Buffy said then squinted at her. "Were you?"

"I'm not a cleaner." Tonks said. "It takes a special breed; apparently a special stupid breed."

Buffy pulled Tonks back down to her place on the steps. "Stay, you're like part of the family." Buffy stared out into the blackness for a few more minutes. "I might need your help with some things."

"Sure." Feeling guilty about what had been done to Sarah, Tonks was all too willing to agree.

"That is if you have the stomach for it."

**To be continued................**


	5. Death and Taxes

**Chapter 5**

**"Death and Taxes"**

**By OldScout**

Two weeks. Buffy stared at her mirror studying her pale skin and limp hair. It'd been two weeks since Sarah was murdered and they were finally getting to bury her. Things had gotten worse and she was getting ready to make changes. Somehow the cops weren't able to get a warrant to search the school but that hadn't stopped them from doing other things; the local school board now wanted a complete roster of all students, faculty and staff; Children's Services wanted a list of students and their families; and the school was under constant surveillance.

Buffy sighed and started brushing her hair again. They were all getting cabin fever and this was not the occasion she wanted for them to get out of the house. She tied her hair back, brushed on some makeup to smooth out her complexion and shrugged on her suit coat. The jacket covered a custom made shoulder holster that secured a knife under each and a long dagger down her spine. The black tailored suit fit her well and she knew she looked good. She didn't care.

Tomorrow the girls were leaving. Cleveland, Los Angeles, Sudbury it didn't matter. They were all leaving England thanks to the Cleaners. She and Willow would be the only ones left in the school. Even Dana was going to Council headquarters. Buffy wanted to go as well, just abandon the school. But she couldn't. There were still two slayers living in normal foster homes she needed to watch over and she had a Big Bad or two to take care of.

That was it. A slayer died, the first duty of the next would be to find the killer. It was instinct an instinct the Council often suppressed. If something was able to kill a slayer, it was mostly likely able to kill a green replacement. Only now there would be no replacement for Sarah. It just wasn't possible. They'd made sure of it that day in Sunnydale.

"Buffy." Willow said from the doorway. "Dawn's here." It was the first time Willow had seen Buffy smile in two weeks.

"How's she doing?" Buffy asked as she turned to her best friend.

"Dawn's fine, but Illyria's with her."

"Ah, yea, what's she going to do, leave her to torment the precious brats at that stupid school?"

Willow grinned.

"Don't answer that."

"No I mean," Willow had this strange look on her face. "Well I guess, oh never mind, you'll know what I mean soon enough."

"Will, dear, here I thought you'd given up the babble for good. It's good to see you still have a have at least one harmless hobby."

Willow grinned again and left the room followed by Buffy.

The deep toned female voice didn't speak more then above a whisper but it still resonated through the house. "....a fractured skull leaves many suitable trophies."

Buffy stopped in mid stride. "Why is she Illyria and not Fred?"

Willow touched her friend's elbow encouraging her to continue down stairs. "I tried to warn you, Slayer mine."

The second Buffy stepped off the stairs she was encased in a death grip hug from her sister. The two just stood that way several minutes, neither said a word nor made a sound. Finally Dawn stepped back. Her long brown hair was iron straight and nearly waist length.

"Buffy, what's going on?" Dawn asked in greeting. "Who are those men parked outside the house?"

"They're investigating Sarah's death." Buffy said and grabbed her sister's hand to pull her closer.

"But why are they watching us?" Dawn asked and thought for a second. "Oh. They think we're to blame. How? Why?"

"There's something I didn't tell you." Buffy replied.

"Well, duh."

"When Sarah was killed, The Ministry sent cleaners to cover up the fact it was a wizard who did it." Buffy watched the look on Dawn's face change from remorse to curiosity. "They removed all evidence of the fight and planted drugs to make it look like an overdose." To anger. "The police now think we're running some kind of drug ring out of the school. They have us under surveillance; we can't do any training outside or go on patrol."

"My God Buffy what are we going to do."

"After the funeral, you're going back to that school and finish the year. Apparently you're relatively safe there. I'm disbanding the school, sending the girls away and Dana to the Council. They're close enough for Willow to visit regularly and know how to handle her. Willow and I will stay here to take care of business and set Sarah's affairs in order."

Dawn tried to grin. She knew what Buffy meant. The death of a Slayer never went unanswered. "I don't know if I want to go back there. Not after what those people have done to us, to Sarah."

"No it's more important now then ever." Buffy took hold of both of Dawn's hands. "I need you as familiar with the Wizards and their magic as possible. We're going to have to deal with them sooner then later and I'll need you're prospective."

Dawn nodded and pulled her sister into another hug. "If you're just telling me that to get me out of the way, I'm going to kick your ass."

"I love you Dawn." Buffy pushed her back and looked over at Illyria who stood watching the whole scene with a slightly bored look on her face. The creature was wearing a black wizarding robe over her leather body armor. The robe's large hood had been pulled back to uncover her head but she'd obviously had it up. "So what's up with her?"

"We, ah, had some problems. Apparently it's not a good idea to channel Fred for too long."

"What happened?"

"The shell's repressed psychosis was difficult to control." Illyria stated.

Dawn forced a tired grin. "I'll tell you about it later."

"Okay, now are you ready to get going? We have to pick up Faith at the air port."

"Yea, let's go."

"Do you have Mr. Sharpie?" Buffy asked before heading for the door.

"I noticed you were carrying but I wasn't going to say anything."

"This is a Slayer funeral. We're going as our own kind of honor guard."

"Yea, I have Mr. Sharpie." Dawn admitted. "I never go anywhere without it."

"Good, we still don't know if Sarah was killed randomly or if they knew who and what she was. They may see this as a chance to take all of us out at one time." Buffy headed for the door walking between two rows of young women all dressed in black and dark blue. She grabbed a set of keys off a hook by the door and tossed them over her shoulder towards her sister. "Dawn, you and Willow are driving. Tonks is with us, everybody else split up between the two vans."

"--"

"Any luck?" Inspector Clayson asked as he climbed into the surveillance just down the block from the Summers School for Girls.

"The parabolic mikes are totally useless." One of the techs said. "We pick up absolutely no sound from the grounds of that school."

"How about the photos?" The tech shook his head again. "I've never seen anything like it. We can take a perfectly clear picture of anything on the school grounds, but the people still come out just a little blurred.

"You haven't gotten that fixed yet?" Clayson frowned. "It's been a week, what the hell have you been doing?"

"We've gotten really good, we can tell everybody in that house by their blurred photos, but there is no way the photos would stand up in court." The tech turned to the monitor. "Look, this is live." He pointed to the procession of young women coming out of the house. They were all perfectly clear they split up and climbed into matching black vans with blacked out windows.

"Now who are they?" The other tech asked pointed at two of the women. One was tall and thin with long straight hair and the other had a long cloak on with a hood pulled up covering most of her face. "Those two we've never seen coming or going before."

The first tech watched the monitor. "You're right. They're new, where'd they come from?" He frowned. "There's another." He pointed to another young woman, this one with spiked jet black hair, black slacks and a long sleeve thin black sweater.

They watched intently as the group loaded into the two vans and drove away. "Okay." The one tech said as the other headed to the front to begin tailing the vans. "You saw that right? The picture was perfectly clear. We couldn't have had better footage, right?"

"I guess." Clayson agreed.

"Now look at it in replay." The Tech reversed to the point where the women were coming out of the house. The house, vehicles, and everything else were perfectly focused, but the people were just a little blurry. Not enough that someone who knew them wouldn't know who they were, but just enough to make a positive ID impossible.

"Wow, that's some pretty sophisticated jamming equipment, I wonder why?"

"Now, look at this." The tech switched to another slightly blurred picture of Miss Summers."

"So, it's blurred, just like the others."

"That is a blow up of this." The tech switched to a photo of the monitor with the image on it. "I took a picture of the monitor with the clear live image on it. Even that one blurred the people in it.

Inspector Clayson just shook his head and put his brief case on the counter. "I've spent the last week having some contacts in the states dig up records on Miss Summers and any known associates or possible associates." He started paging through folders with photos stapled to the outside. "Let's see who you recognize."

The first folder was Buffy Summers, they passed over that one. The second was Dawn Summers. "I think she was one of the new women." He scanned the play back of blurred figures climbing into the vans and until he found the first two they hadn't seen before. "I think she's the one without the cloak, only she's older then that picture now and longer hair."

Clayson studied the slightly blurred picture of the girl getting in the van. "I think you're right." He paged Dawn's folder to the other side of the brief case to reveal a pretty red head in a high school year book photo. "Miss Rosenberg. This is her high school year book photo. They say these pictures are hard to come by. Apparently when people were fleeing Sunnydale before its collapse they were in too much of a hurry to bring those sorts of items."

The next picture was a candid picture of a man standing in a café. He was tall with dark hair a muscular build, an eye patch and a very bright smile. "Alexander Harris."

"There have been a few men come and go from the house but not him. I'd remember the patch."

Clayson nodded and revealed the next folder with another year book photo. "Anya Jenkins."

"Haven't seen her."

"There hasn't been a confirmed sighting of Miss Jenkins since before the collapse of Sunnydale. It's thought she may have been killed in the quake." The next folder was of an older man with graying hair and glasses. "Doctor Rupert Giles was the school librarian at Sunnydale High. He apparently became some sort of mentor and father figure to the Summers girls in the absence of their own father. He is currently the CEO of something called the IWC. Preliminary checks indicate some kind of financial links between this IWC and the Summers School for Girls. We are currently investigating the IWC, even got the tax chaps looking at them. Another interesting thing is that just before the collapse of Sunnydale, many of the senior members of the IWC were assassinated. Remember those explosions downtown a couple of years ago?"

"Sure, I help analyze some of the security footage."

"Well, those deaths paved the way for our man Mr. Giles here to take over."

"Interesting."

"Indeed." Clayson turned to the next folder. The next was a black man with a shaved head. "Charles Gunn, Esquire. Miss Summers' personal lawyer."

"He left the house a couple of hours ago." The tech said looking at the photo.

"He's an interesting case. Up until a couple of years ago he was a street punk living on the streets and on the edge of the law. Then seemingly overnight he becomes a high priced lawyer with a top international law firm."

"What law school did he attend?"

"It's not listed." Clayson turned to the next folder. "Now, some of Mr. Gunn's acquaintances." The next folder had the picture of a white man with short black hair and an expensive black suit, black shirt and black tie. "Mr. Angel, or just Angel depending on who you talk to. He was apparently Mr. Gunn's boss in L. A. before they were all hired by the law firm Wolfram and Hart. This Angel chap was hired as the manager of the local office, fifty floors or something."

"Whew, that's a big law firm."

"That was just one office. They have offices all over the world; even one here in London."

"Have you asked the local office what they might know about some of these people?"

Clayson frowned. "I thought about it, but right now I don't want to tip our hand that we're investigating them this thoroughly." He turned to the next folder of a pretty brunette with a wide smile. "Cordelia Chase, the only obvious link between these two groups. An aspiring actress, she worked for Angel Investigations until just before he started to work for the law firm. She was in the same graduation class a Buffy Summers."

"What happened to her?"

"Some kind of accident put her in coma. She passed away in the spring of '04." Clayson uncovered the next folder. "Wesley Wyndam-Price. Another associate of Angel's, also took a job at Wolfram and Hart. He was found murdered after those riots in the spring of '04. Not long after Miss Chase passed."

Turning to the last folder, he said. "Finally we have Winifred Burkle. She was listed in missing persons in Las Angeles for five years; showed up working at Angel Investigations without explanation of where she'd been. Took over the Wolfram and Hart research department at the same time Angel and Gunn took their positions. She's been missing since the riots and the collapse of the Wolfram and Hart buildings."

"She looks familiar." The tech started stepping through that morning's footage to the hooded woman they hadn't recognized. The blurred features were barely recognizable as female. "Do you remember what this one looked like?"

"Didn't she have blue hair and blue eyes or something?"

The tech started walking through the footage one frame at a time to watch the hooded figure. Just before she got in the car, she looked directly at the camera her eyes glowed blue and one individual frame cleared revealing her face. All other people in the frame were either turned away from the camera or still blurred but that one image showed her clearly.

"Print that!" Clayson leaned forward to look at the only clear image they'd taken during surveillance. He held up the picture if Winifred Burkle. "It could be her, it's hard to tell but it could be."

"Doesn't that give you a chill?" The tech asked.

"What?"

"It's like a reverse ghost photo."

Clayson looked at the man.

"Haven't you ever seen those ghost photos where everything is clear and off to the side is a creepy blurred image; usually a double exposure or something?"

"I guess."

"Well this is like the opposite. All the normal people are blurred and the only clear image is this." He handed the inspector a print out of a woman with glowing eyes, blue hair and what looked like blue stripes with black veins lining either side of her face.

"That's some get up."

"For a funeral?"

"--"

The vehicles made it to the airport but it wasn't the crowded commercial terminal, it was a small side terminal used by private jets and charter services. The two black vans disgorged their occupants of young women who gathered by the fence watching the small jets come and go.

"That one." Willow said quietly as one private jet approached the small customs terminal. The jet rolled to a stop its door opened and its steps lowered to the pavement. A thin, not real tall man with short dark hair and wearing a black trench coat over a black suit started down the stairs and waited for the person behind him. The next person was a woman also wearing a black trench coat over a black skirt. She walked with one leg and a crutch. Her left leg was bent at a forty five degree angle and in a bright white cast. A rod behind the knee connected the back of the thigh to the back of the shin maintaining a perfect position. Four small rods stuck out of the cast running the length of the leg.

The man offered his hand to help her navigate the steps but he was glared down until he backed off and finished his walk to the tarmac. Holding the aluminum crutch in one hand she turned side ways so her broken left leg was away from the plane then commenced to hop down the steps using only her right leg and never touching the guide cable. The second she touched the tarmac she leaned on the crutch and started for customs.

"That's definitely Faith." Dawn said.

"What happened to her?" One of the girls asked.

"We'll know soon enough." Buffy said and headed for customs. She was just in time to see Faith and her companion flash ID badges at the agent and get waived through without any kind of questioning or search. "No that's convenient." She said as Willow arrived behind her.

Buffy was the first to meet Faith and only then did she realize that her left arm wasn't in her sleeve and she had a long black scarf with a hint of white gauze peeking out from under it tied around her head covering her hair. Did she even have hair? The left side of her face was also marked with healing burn scars. "Hey, Faith." Buffy said in greeting as the battered young woman approached.

"Hey, B., Red." Faith returned and looked at the gang waiting for them outside. "I see you brought the whole crew."

"Yea, the rest from the council will meet use at the funeral." As she spoke, she looked over Faith's shoulder at her approaching companion.

Faith followed her gaze. "Hey, Meyers, lets go. Even with one leg and a broken wing I'm faster then you."

Agent Meyers approached the group of young women there to meet Faith. "Hi, I'm Special Agent John Meyers, I work with Faith."

Buffy studied the fresh burns on John's face. "Looks like you two were playing with somebody who didn't want to share their toys."

"Yea, some evil Nazi demon monsters in Argentina." Faith replied.

"This I've gotta hear." Buffy smiled.

Faith lost her smile and glanced down at her injuries. "Not yet, I'll tell you later; some time."

Buffy smiled and carefully hugged her prodigal friend. "That's the second time today somebody told me that. Let's go, the service is in a couple of hours." She looked around. "Where's your luggage?"

"We can't stay." Meyers said. "We have to get Faith back to the doctors in New York. Normally they wouldn't have put her in the cast; she heals too quickly. They'll need to adjust the pins and alignments within the next twenty four hours if we want make sure the bones heal straight."

Outside the girls mobbed around Faith and Meyers; all that is except Illyria who was staring at the white van parked in the distance. "Hey, Blue, what's the fascination?" Faith asked as she approached the former God-King.

"The muck in that vehicle followed us from the hovel called a school."

"You really know how to insult just about everybody in one breath don't you, Blue."

Illyria continued to stare. "If their interest in Oriens' family threatens her, I will make them wish for mere pain."

"Okay, Blue, whatever. Don't worry about them; they're just doing their job. I'm sure somebody will set them straight before long."

Dawn came up behind the two. "Let's go, everybody else is in the vans."

As the three headed to the vans Dawn asked. "So Faith what's the story with Meyers?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well you know since you and Robin broke up you haven't mentioned anybody else. And since you tend to hook up with..." she stopped as they approached the van.

Dawn walked to the driver's seat as Faith swung into the front passenger seat. "So what were you two talking about?" Buffy asked as Illyria took the seat next to her in the second row.

"Nothing." Dawn said looking at Agent Meyers squeezed into the seat to Buffy's right directly behind her.

"She was just asking me if I was bauffing Agent Meyers yet." Both Meyers and Dawn turned beet red as the door slid shut and they drove away.

"--"

"Okay, find out who just got off that plane and walked through customs." Inspector Clayson said into his cell phone. "Those two didn't even look like they slowed down to have their passports stamped." He turned to the tech. "Get anything this time?" He'd been on the phone the whole time talking to base and the other chase van.

"Everything, loud and clear."

They didn't pick up the conversation in the terminal or much of the greetings from the girls. What they did get was the conversation between Faith, Dawn Summers and the one Faith called "Blue", which seemed to fit. There was also somebody named Meyers mentioned who they assumed was the man traveling with Faith and somebody named Oriens.

"Okay, we need to find out who Faith and Meyers are and which one is called Oriens. What kind of name is that?"

"She called us Muck." The tech said. "What does that mean? And what does she mean 'wish for mere pain'?"

"Well," Inspector Clayson said thoughtfully. "It sounds like an insult and a threat."

**To be continued.............**


	6. Eulogy

**Chapter 6**

**"Eulogy"**

**By OldScout**

It was like walking through a pool of ink. The shadows swirled around him as he slowly approached the dais at the far end of the empty room. He'd never been here before when there wasn't a meeting. He'd never requested an audience before. He was a nobody working at a table in a forgotten corner of the Ministry. There he'd spent most of his life and all of his adult life pushing scrolls folding messages and being ignored. One day he stopped doing his work, he just sat at his desk all day shuffling and stacking his paper, unrolling and rolling scrolls and other worthless tasks. Nobody noticed. Nobody came and asked for his daily Knight Bus run report. Nobody asked for his daily floo access provisional report. Nobody asked why he hadn't filed his weekly apparating license renewal report. The next day he reported to work, punched in like he normally did then left again. He spent the day in Diagon Alley sitting in a small pub just off Knockturn Alley. He spent the day talking to other people who had nothing better to do in their important lives but to sit in a run down pub in the middle of a beautiful summer day.

It was his third straight day of sitting in this pub instead of producing reports that were never read. That was when he met her, the most beautiful witch he'd ever seen. At least he thought so at the time. Her alabaster skin seemed to glow under green robes that matched her eyes so perfectly. Her long, thick vibrant blond hair had a red sheen that just held his gaze as if he were staring at a great work of art by a master painter. She spoke to him; her smile froze time. She took him shopping in Knockturn Alley. He'd never been to Knockturn Alley. It wasn't nearly as bad as everyone had warned him. The people were friendly enough, if a bit reserved, and she seemed to know so many of them. She told him to come back the next day, after work. That he needed his job and eventually somebody would catch on and he'd be on the street. They'd spent the next afternoon together and the next evening. He spent the night at her apartment in muggle London. Soon they spent two or three nights a week together. She gave his life meaning, made him feel like he belonged.

That was how it started. Within a month she had introduced him to her brother. She was a widow and he hadn't known her family name but he recognized her brother and finally the family resemblance. Her brother wasn't nearly like everybody made him out to be, he was just a busy man who didn't have time to waste with so many fools at the ministry. Her brother and his associates had business dealings that the Ministry seemed to be endlessly involved in. Could he help? Check on the status of this permit, see who filed that permit. Nothing big, nothing they couldn't apply for through normal channels and wait days if not weeks for.

Now he stood in the room of shadows before his lover's master. He'd never taken the mark he hadn't been asked. He assumed because his position at the Ministry was too important or perhaps he just wasn't important enough. It didn't mater, here he stood, mark or no, head bowed before the Lord.

"What newsss do you have for me?" the being buried under the robes piled on the throne asked.

"I have information about the Slayers."

"Has the next risssen yet?" The pile of robes seemed to lean forward. "Has she found our world?"

"That's just it." He took an unconscious step backwards. "The potentials, there are none left to replace the fallen Slayer."

"She was the last? Is that possible?"

"Not the last. She was one of many." There was dead silence even the air seemed to become still.

The Lord shifted on his throne as if contemplating the meaning of what was just said. "Continue."

"Word has it that all the girls that could become Slayers have become Slayers." Did the Lord lean forward? He wasn't sure. "The Ministry and Department of Magical Law Enforcement have been conducting secrete negotiations with the Slayers' leader but they've broken down since the death of this Slayer."

"Many Slayersssssss? Not possible, it would upset the balance."

"It's the story I heard and from more then one Wizard. Apparently there is even Auror training them to fight Death Eaters, to fight Wizards."

The Lord's eyes flashed and he flew to his feet. "Impossible!!!! Even the fools at the Ministry would never allow such betrayal!! We must find this traitor and make him pay for his treachery."

"I know where they will be and the Auror, she'll be with them."

"--"

"So Buffy," Dawn asked after they'd been on road from the airport for a few minutes. "Why didn't you have the Ministry reverse what the Cleaners did and clear Sarah's name?"

Faith sitting next to Dawn slowly turned her head to look over her shoulder at Buffy. "Yea, why not? Sarah deserves better."

"By the time we figured out what happened the damage was done. The story and investigation had spread to so many departments and people it would have taken hundreds of Aurors working in unison to clean it up. Besides, you know we don't like to magically alter people's memory."

"But the Wizards do." Dawn said. "They do it all the time."

"But I don't." Buffy repeated. "We'll live with the consequences and so will the Wizards."

"We're always living with the consequences." Dawn mumbled.

"That's life." Buffy said quietly. "We live with the consequences of ours and other's actions. The Wizards try to constantly manipulate things so that they don't have to. That's why their world is so screwed up."

Was that it? Tonks sat in the far back seat between two young slayers who leaned forward intently listening to life lessons from the eldest slayer. Was her world really screwed up? Is that why she'd taken to this new world of fighting monsters and training young women? It was also a world of tolerance and forgiveness, one where your status was based solely on your actions. Forgiveness was a big thing with these people. From what little she'd learned; Faith, Willow and Andrew should all be jail or worse for their actions in the past. Even Dana should be somewhere, not sitting in a van with a bunch of young girls going to a funeral. She looked at Illyria, they even accepted a creature like her into their midst. The Wizarding world would have had none of it; they'd all be in Azkaban right now, or dead. And Voldemort would continue to gather his power.

"--"

"Inspector, we have an ID on the plane and the passengers." Clayson heard after answering his phone. "Go ahead."

"The plane is owned by the American Government," the caller said. "The passengers where Special Agent John Meyers and Special Agent Faith Johnson, both with the F.B.I."

"Anything else?"

"The return flight plan has already been scheduled for midnight. Agents Meyers and Johnson are only in town for the day."

Inspector Clayson closed his phone. What the hell? The United States government flew two agents all the way to London to attend the funeral of a sixteen year old foster child who died of a drug overdose. That just didn't add up. The girls seemed to know Agent Johnson. She was one of them. Why would the F.B.I. be involved in a drug ring like this? Unless it wasn't a drug a ring. Unless it was a murder and the drugs had been a plant. What about the blood stains in the alley? He'd gone back after talking to Miss Summers. Using special chemicals and infrared lights they'd found the stains like Miss Summers had described; but there was no telling how old the stains were, they could have been days or even weeks old.

"They're just doing their job." The words echoed in Clayson's head. Agent Johnson knew why he was here and harbored no resentment. She knew it was just his job. Why did he still catch himself thinking of this as a murder? Sometimes he dreamed at night that he was holding an evidence bag with the knife he'd found in the girl's room. It was too real, more like a memory.

"Do you ever feel like we're barking up the wrong tree?" Clayson asked the tech who was staring out the window watching the scenery roll by.

"Sir?" The young man turned to face him. "Are you asking if I think these people are guilty or not?"

"Yes."

"We haven't seen anything that looks remotely like drug activity." The man said, "But, or course, I'm not an expert."

"Agreed."

"But we have seen some pretty weird shit. Between the blurring pictures, the people coming out of that house that never went in and now that blue hair chick. Even if these people are not running drugs, I'll bet they know how those drugs ended up on that girl."

Clayson sat back and nodded. He couldn't have said it any better then that. They might not be running a drug ring, but they sure as hell knew who was.

"--"

It wasn't a large funeral home. It was in an old house near council headquarters. The business was one of many side businesses owned by the council as a way to diversify and manage their income. Plus knowing the staff helped control those pesky questions about how peopled died.

The two vans driven by Willow Rosenberg and Dawn Summers pulled into the parking lot and lined up behind two more identical vans. "Looks like the others are here." Buffy said as she handed Faith's crutch out the door to the Slayer who was hopping around on one foot.

Faith looked at her reflection in the mirror, checking her makeup and adjusting the long scarf on her so it continued to cover the remains of her hair and hid the white gauze that had begun to peak out from beneath.

A short showing just before the funeral was all that was scheduled. After two weeks in cold storage, it really wasn't appropriate for much more, plus there was no other family and no other friends. The group slowly filtered into the funeral home to meet the other older slayers and staff from the Council.

"Hey Faith," Charles Gunn said as he greeted her in turn. "Girl friend, what happened to you?"

"Long story, Councilor." Faith returned. "Don't worry though; I'm still five by five. Everything's intact, just got to let it heal." She started greeting the rest of the staff and introducing Agent Meyers.

"Faith, when you said you'd be bringing company we hoped you might be brining Hell Boy." Andrew said after a very quick uncomfortable hug in greeting.

"Oh, yea that would have gone over well." Faith replied. "A seven foot tall red apocalypse demon with a tail and shaved off horns wondering the streets of London. I'd have to vote for, ahhhhh no."

"He didn't want to come anyway." Meyers added, "He gets all choked up at funerals."

As Meyers spoke, Faith wondered away on her aluminum crutch; already using it like she'd been born with it.

"If you'd excuse me, Agent Meyers," Andrew said after seeing more people enter the room. "I have to go say hi."

"Who is that? It looks like she's under guard or something."

"That's Dana." Andrew replied. "And she is; you best keep your distance." He walked over to the three new comers.

"Hello ladies." Andrew smiled in greeting.

"I know Andrew." The brunette with wavy shoulder length hair said as she looked at him through her bangs.

"Dana, it's good to see you out. How are you feeling today?"

The young woman held up her hand and looked at it. "Alive but weak."

"Yes, Willow said you wanted your medication so you wouldn't accidentally hurt anybody today."

"Sarah was nice. I wanted to say goodbye."

Andrew looked into the other room where he could see the coffin as Faith approached it. "Do you want to get any closer?"

"She's not in there." Dana said and pointed to an empty corner. "She's over there."

"Is she just here for the service?" Andrew asked seriously.

"She'll go home when she's at rest."

"Why don't you go keep her company until it's time to go to the cemetery?"

Dana nodded and went over to the corner of the room and sat on the floor with her back against one wall. "Just stay with her." Andrew said to the two girls who'd come in with Dana.

"Of course." The two Slayers took chairs to either side of Dana.

Faith approached the coffin. Some of the other girls were talking.

"How'd they get her in that skirt?" One of them asked trying to force a smile.

"Yea, will the Powers recognize her without her camouflage?" another asked.

They weren't being mean or making fun. These girls were friends, true friends. Teasing their friend and enjoying the memory of her quirks. Faith smiled. They knew her well. She reached out and grabbed the edge of the metal coffin to steady herself as she looked in. The edge of coffin started to crush under her grip and she felt a touch on her arm.

"Let's go talk to some of your friends." She heard Meyers say.

"All I see is a cold dark hole." Faith mumbled and let go of the coffin.

Another arm reached around her waist. Faith looked at Andrew. "Dana says she sees Sarah in that corner." He whispered to her and gave a little nudge in that direction.

Faith limped over to Dana and used her crutch for support as she slid down the wall holding her cast leg out in front of her. It was not a very elegant way for a woman in a business suit to sit but it was where she needed to be. The two dark Slayers sat side by side on the floor waiting for the service to begin and to end.

"--"

The ceremony in the funeral home was brief. From outside Inspector Clayson suspected it took longer to get all those girls and young women seated and settled then the ceremony actually lasted. One thing he noticed though home was that every single person who showed up was from the Summers School for girls or the IWC. Not one of Sarah's few cousins, aunts or uncles or other family friends bothered to show. These people were here, how could they be responsible for her death? They were not acting like some major drug cartel; they were acting like a large family.

He didn't need to follow them to the cemetery. He knew where it was. He'd considered having the chase vans just join the procession; they all knew they were there. In the end he decided to leave early, park out of sight of the plot and observe on foot at a distance. He set up a couple of the surveillance techs to get pictures of the participants but they were well hidden in the distant trees.

Mrs. Peach stood with Inspector Clayson on a slight rise about forty meters from the site. "Do you still think they're drug dealers?" She asked as the watched the short procession of vehicles approach.

"No, but I'm certain they know what happened to Miss O'Malley." He pulled his coat tighter around himself. "Sarah O'Malley is dead and the killer will be brought to justice, I won't let this one get away."

The vans arrived letting out a large number of young women and few men. It was a strange mix of people from Faith Johnson with her horribly crushed leg, to the bald lawyer, to the strange woman with the black cloak and blue hair. Four young women carried the full size coffin from the hearse to the grave side.

In the back of the group, four other women stood out to Inspector Clayson's trained eyes. "Those four in the back, what do you know about them?" He pointed out the four. "Particularly the one with the long brown hair in the middle."

Mrs. Peach looked at the girl. "I met, or really saw her once in passing at the school." She replied. "I think her name is Dana. Why?"

"Well, I was just thinking that if those three standing beside and behind her where wearing police uniforms, I'd expect to see her in shackles."

"What?!"

"The way they walk and stand with her; that's exactly how we escort dangerous prisoners to and from court."

"--"

Watching through an observer glass, twelve Death Eaters stood ready to attack the muggles and the muggle loving Auror with them. They had two main missions; the first and primary mission was to kill the traitor in front of her friends. Teach the muggles that even an Auror was not safe from the will of the dark lord. The second mission was to take one of the slayers alive and relatively unharmed. This was going to be tricky since they were could break most binding magic. Therefore they had developed several combinations of spells designed to be delivered in a specific order to incapacitate, bind and render the slayer unconscious before she could fight them. The final directive was to do as much damage to the slayers and support staff as possible. This would demoralize them and make them a less effective enemy.

"Which one is the traitor?" One of the Wizards asked no one in particular as he watched the people get out of the vans and wait for the hearse. The attendees were almost all young women. "How do we know..." he stopped speaking as somebody wearing a Wizarding robe with pulled up hood stepped out of one of the vans. "There is our Auror. The nerve of her to flaunt who and what she is in front of all those muggles."

"We shall teach her a lesson soon enough." Another Wizard replied.

"When do we go?"

"Just as the ceremony is finishing; the muggles will be at their lowest and most vulnerable." the eldest said. "Plus they will not be expecting an attack just after such a solemn occasion."

"What about the Wicca?" one of the others asked. The question was almost sarcastic. There had been great debate as to whether the Wicca witch was any real threat.

"I have taken care of her as well." The eldest said.

"Then you believe her a threat?"

"Threat or not, she will be dealt with first. I have, ah, recruited a muggle to distract her."

"--"

Faint whispers of magic were all Willow could feel during the ceremony. Something could be brewing or she could just be picking up on the mix of Slayer, wiccan, wizarding, and ancient magic all gathered in this one spot. It was probably nothing; those Death Eaters were too big a cowards to attack a group like this.

The last verse was read, the last remembrance was said and the old Minister thanked everyone for coming. As people slowly started to ahead back to the vehicles a young girl no more then six holding a couple of roses broke away from her mother and ran up to Willow.

"This is for you." She said handing Willow the only red rose she was carrying.

"Oh how sweet." Willow smiled and took the rose. The instant she touched the flower, she felt a sharp pulling sensation just behind her navel. As her surroundings started to blur, she could hear screaming and shouts. Most of the noise stopped quickly except the sound a child screaming.

"What the hell just happened?" Inspector Clayson yelled and started to jog toward the spot Miss Rosenberg and the child had just disappeared from. The mother was screaming and the funeral attendees where shouting about an attack.

Crack! Crack! Two robed figures appeared out of nowhere. "Avada Kedavra." One said pointing a small stick at the woman with blue hair. A blast of green light accompanied by a rumbling that sounded like freight train engulfed strange woman.

"Crucio!" The other said pointing at Dawn Summers as she jumped out of the way. No sooner then he said the word, the shaft of a cross bow bolt slammed through the side of his head.

Crack! Crack! Crack! Three more robed figures appeared on the opposite side of the gathering.

Dawn rolled to the ground and heard her name called. She looked up in time to see Tonks toss her a wooden stake before turning her wand toward more arriving Death Eaters. Growing up on the Hellmouth with the Slayer for a sister taught Dawn to have impeccable reflexes. It had become second nature to snatch a stake when it was tossed to her. That was what Buffy had been counting on when she gave Tonks her instructions. If something happened, get Dawn to safety and there was one thing she was sure to reach for in a fight. The stake was a port key, keyed to activate only when touched by Buffy or Dawn. It was one way. Dawn was going someplace safe and wasn't coming back until Tonks retrieved her. Boy was she going to be pissed.

Crack! Crack! Two more came in just behind where the first two arrived. Instead of finding a dead Auror to collect; they found one of their companions with a crossbow bolt in his head and the other laying on his back at the feet of the Auror. Her hood was off revealing wild black hair with blue streaks framing her face and vein laced stripes across her forehead and down either side of her neck. Her eyes glowed blue in anger. She looked at them with a tilt of her head then at the man at her feet. His mask had been knocked off and he was trying to scramble away from her. She leaned down, drawing her fist back.

"Stupify!" one cursed at her.

"Immobilous" the other one cursed.

Crack! Crack! Crack! Three more Death Eaters came in on another side of the group. The slayers were now in a cross fire of three groups of Death Eaters.

The woman with the blue hair punched the Death Eater at her feet in the chest. His strength immediately left his arms and his body collapsed to the ground.

"Crucio!"

"Stupify"

They continued to pound curses at her but the curses just shimmered and dissipated. She stood and jerked her hand free from the body. They looked on in horror realizing she pulled something out. She looked at them and held up her blood covered left hand showing them a still beating heart.

Crack! Crack! Two more Death Eaters popped onto the fourth side of the group into a maze of flying knives, crossbow bolts, flashes of curses and screaming peopled.

Bang! Bang! One of the new arrivals' knees disintegrated in a spray of muscle and blood. Their arrival was perfectly coordinated to surround the Slayers and associates to pin them down like rats in a trap. But they were in the perfect line of fire for the incapacitated Faith. She lay on her back after diving for cover behind some tombstones. She couldn't walk, couldn't crawl and could barely sit up, so she waited. Her Government Issue automatic pointed in the only direction she could see. She waited until a black clad figure appeared in her sight. The double tap was instinct, drilled into from months on the range. As the man fell she saw his white mask and pulled the trigger again. The bullet hit him between the eyes and took out the back of his head. She waited for the next.

Inspector Clayson hadn't gotten far before all hell broke loose around the open grave. Instinctively he jumped for cover behind head stones as did the others. Screams were mixed with the strange cracking noise as figures wearing black robes seemed to appear out of thin air. Other strange hissing or zapping sounds accompanied by words spoken and yelled in Latin flew back and forth. Intermixed with everything was the twang and whoosh of a cross bow being fired and the simple unmistakable sound of fist striking flesh.

Bang! Bang! ....Bang! The three gun shots immediately put things into perspective for everybody.

Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Five in quick succession; something told Clayson it wasn't more arrivals. He looked over the stone he was hiding behind. The only people standing were young women. All were holding knives, swords or crossbows, all except two. The one with short black hair was holding a short stick like the attackers had used and the other with blue hair had shed her robe to reveal a body suit made up of a patchwork of dark red and black leather. She dropped something on the body at her feet and turned to inspect the others.

"Where's Oriens?" She asked the young woman with the stick.

"She's safe." Buffy Summers answered. "Tonks will go get her when we're sure it's safe here."

"Fine." She glared at the woman called Tonks. "I will accept that for now."

"Are there any Death Eaters still alive?" Buffy asked the crowd. "We need to find out what happened to Willow and the little girl." Buffy looked down at the mother who just sat on the ground with her knees hugged to her chest.

"Where's my baby? Where's my baby?" The woman cried over and over as she rocked back and forth.

Buffy looked around. "Okay take a count. Is anybody else hurt or missing? Grab your stuff we've got to get out of here."

"Where's Dana?" One of Dana's escorts asked.

"What?" Buffy spun around looking at the group. "Dana! Anybody see what happened to Dana?"

Crack! Crack! Crack!

More people in black robes started to arrive.

**To be continued.....**

"-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"

AN: Some of the conversation in the funeral home was inspired by the song "Grandpa That I know" written by Shawn Camp and Tim Mensy and record by Patty Loveless on her album "On Your Way Home".


	7. Discovery

**Chapter 7**

**"Discovery"**

**By OldScout**

Freezing cold and a terrible wind met Willow when the port key's spell deposited her at her destination. Snow and ice pounded her from all directions without mind to the thin sweater or dress shoes she was wearing. She turned to look about and promptly fell on the hard packed snow and ice she was standing on. After a brief slide she was able to catch herself on a ledge. Below her, the ice slope she was on appeared to end at a sharp cliff that dropped off into the clouds. Above her, the ice flattened out to the plateau where she'd originally been deposited. The wind picked up again whipping more snow about and nearly blocking the view in all directions.

As her teeth chattered and hands and feet started to become numb, Willow concentrated on drawing in magic. She could do this, just block out the cold and the wind and the ice beating against her skin and find the magic. Just a trickle seeped into her; it felt like it did when she tried to use it from an airplane. The energy was there it just seemed so far away. "That's okay." She thought. "It'll just take a little longer to gather what I need to teleport."

A noise beyond the howling of the wind got Willow's attention. "What was that?" She thought and tried to look around. It sounded like the whimper of a child. There was a mound of snow a few yards away from where she'd landed. Did it just move and cry? "Oh goddess!" She said. The child had been brought here by the port key too.

Using the power she'd already gathered she levitated up the icy slope to the mound of snow. Fighting against the wind to keep from getting blow from the mountain, the short jump took a lot more power then it should have. Willow brushed at the whimpering mound of snow to find the young girl shivering and huddled beneath, roses still clutched in her hand.

"Shhhhh it'll be alright." Willow whispered before casting a shield and warming spell and gathering the barely conscious child into her arms she crouched holding the child close to warm her. The wind stopped buffeting them and the temperature to began rise. A small sphere of magic repelled the onslaught of wind and driving snow while slowly melting a pocket in the ice below it.

"Concentrate." Willow thought as she rocked the little girl. She had to hold the shield and the heat while trying to gather enough power to teleport herself and the child to anywhere but here. "Stay with me, this might take awhile." She whispered as a particularly strong wind shook the shield causing her to loose focus for a second.

"—"

Crash! Bang! "Damn it!"

Upon landing, Dawn had backed into a table knocking it over and spilling its contents of stacked dishes, glasses and mugs. As the utensils and china crashed to the floor, Dawn swore aloud and took a fighting stance still holding the stake Tonks had tossed her. She was in an old kitchen with plain painted wooden cabinets and a now over turned kitchen table. As she looked around she heard footsteps coming down a hallway. She looked in time to see a figure wearing a black robe and hold a wand rushing out of the hallway toward her. Dawn jumped forward grabbing the hand with the wand she pulled the wizard, spun and connected her elbow to his nose. It was the same move she'd taken out Malformed with. It even produced the same satisfying crunch and scream it had before.

Seeing another robed figure behind the first Dawn used the momentum to throw the first to the ground, spun around and landed a solid kick to the stomach of the second wizard. He stumbled back from the impact, tripped over his own feet, landed hard and swore like a Brit in a slightly familiar voice.

Hearing movement in the kitchen behind her, Dawn spun around pulling her knife. She took her fighting stance; knife in one hand, stake in the other and looked for the next threat. Dawn turned to the left ready to throw the stake when she heard a voice.

"Dawn Summers?" A familiar female voice asked.

Dawn stopped her throw short. "Mrs. Weasley?" She relaxed a bit then took a couple of hurried steps away from the two men she'd just taken out.

"Alastor! Are you alright?" Mrs. Weasley rushed to the first Wizard's side.

"Arrgh!" was the first reply as the man climbed to his knees. "Who attacked us, was it death eaters?" a growling voice asked. As he sat up, a hand was clutched to his nose covering most of his rough and scared face; blood flowed down either side of his mouth from his broken nose.

"By Merlin, you're bleeding." Mrs. Weasley said. "Let me get you a rag."

"It happens when you get your nose broke." The man growled. "Now who attacked us, woman."

"Don't worry about me." A new but very familiar voice said from the hallway.

"Severus, I'm so sorry, are you okay." The red headed witch asked turning toward Professor Snape who was standing in the hallway just behind Mrs. Weasley.

"Ah, hi." Dawn waved at the three with the same hand she still held the stake in.

Alastor held his wand out at the girl but Snape put his away.

"Miss Summers." Snape hissed. "What in the name of all that is unholy are you doing here?"

"You know this creature?" Alastor asked. "What manner of beast is she?"

"Hey!" Dawn defended. "I'm not a creature or beast."

"She's a muggle." Mrs. Weasley said. "Remember, we told you about her, she goes to Hogwarts with Ron."

"Speaking of beasts, where's your friend Ms. Burkle?" Snape said pulling out his wand and scanning the house again.

"If she's a muggle, how did she get in here and take out two trained aurors?" Alastor growled continuing to point his wand at Dawn.

"Keep pointing that thing at me and I'll show you again how I was able to take you out." Dawn glared at the weathered old auror and his wandering eye.

Mrs. Weasley put a hand on Alastor's wand hand and a towel to his face. "She's okay." She said. "We just startled each other. She turned to Dawn. "Child how did you get here?"

Dawn spun the stake she was holding. "Port key, a little present from my sister and her new best bud Nymphadora Tonks."

"Why would they send you here?" Snape asked. "Was there trouble? We were told you were attending a funeral."

"Why would Tonks give a muggle a port key that would bring her here of all places?" Alastor growled turning toward Professor Snape as he put his wand away.

"Perhaps we should ask said muggle." Snape replied and looked at Dawn.

Three pairs of eyes turned back to Dawn.

"Because they always have to protect me." Dawn Sneered. "One of these days they're going to realize I can take care of myself."

"I would have to agree with you there, girl." Alastor grumbled around the dish towel he was holding to his nose.

"Dawn," Mrs. Weasley asked. "What were they protecting you from?"

"Oh, a bunch of stupid death eaters attacked us at the funeral."

"What!" All thee asked at the same time.

"Can you believe how stupid those people are? They attack us at the funeral for somebody they killed; it can't be pretty." She tapped her foot a couple of times. "And I'm here missing it." She looked at the three staring at her then something clicked. She turned to Mrs. Weasley. "Mrs. Weasley, what are you doing here, wherever here is, with Professor Snape and Leather Face over there? And why, for that matter, would Tonks send me here?"

All the implications suddenly dawned on Snape "Great, that's all we need." He threw up his hands and walk out of the kitchen.

"What's the problem?" Alastor grumbled. "We'll just put a memory charm on her." He ignored the glare from the girl.

"Go right ahead." Snape said from the other room. "I just don't want to be around when that creature comes for your spine."

"—"

Hard foot steps and a soft dragging sound echoed through the empty stone hallways. Five men wearing black robes with hoods and white masks marched through the old corridor. The two in the back of the procession held a young woman with disheveled long brown under the arms. The young woman's hands where shackled tightly behind her back, her head hung forward and her toes dragged along the cobble stone floor.

"Here." The leader pointed to a dark room at the end of the corridor. The two with the girl dragged her into the room and dropped her in the center of the floor. One of the others pointed his wand at a rope hanging from the ceiling and mutter a spell. The rope transformed into a chain. The unconscious girl groaned as they twisted and over extended her arms to pull them up over her head and hook the shackles to the chain. Another spell was said causing the chain to shorten until the girl's toes where barely touching the floor.

The five stood back and looked at the young girl with tangled dark brown hair obscuring her face. "You're sure she's a slayer." One of them asked. "She didn't put up much of a fight."

"The identifier spell says it's a slayer." One of the others stated.

"She'd better be." The first said. "We paid a high price for her."

"It is."

No sound was heard, nothing changed but all five turned at the same time to see the Dark Lord enter the cell. "You have a guessst." He stated as he looked at the young girl. He looked out from under his robes at the five. "I sent a dozen. Five return. The little girlsss must be quaking in fear."

He turned back to the prisoner. "Wake it."

One of the five produced his wand and said a spell. Nothing happened. He said it again. Still nothing.

"Is she still alive?" one of the wizards asked.

"It lives." The Lord stated. "Must I wake it if you can not?"

The wizard tried the spell again. This time the girl moved.

"Such competence. It is no wonder so many fear my name."

The girl lifted her eyes and glared through her hair at the wizards. "You can't hurt me anymore." She told the group.

"We haven't even started." One of the wizards said.

"Do you have a name?" the Lord asked.

"Names are for friends." The girl replied. "You're not my friends."

The Dark Lord stepped forward and ran a skeletal hand up the side of the girl's face. She didn't turn away, just continued to stare at him. "Then what shall we call you, child?"

"Death."

"—"

"Police, everybody stay right where you're at." Inspector Clayson yelled at the all the people gathered around the grave site as he held up his badge.

Miss Summers ran up to him and took his arm. "Come on, Inspector, we have to get you and Mrs. Peach out of here."

"Miss Summers, there's just been a deadly attack which you were in the middle of…"

"They're muggles." One of the new arrivals said pointing a wand at the inspector and Mrs. Peach. He was dressed similar to the original attackers but wasn't wearing a white mask.

One of the others pointed his stick at one of the bodies, there was a flash of light and the body was gone. "Hey, you're tampering with evidence." Inspector Clayson yelled.

"Miss Summers, stand aside, we have to take care of this." The man said pointing his wand at Inspector Clayson.

"Put your wand away and get those death eaters out of here." Buffy said and fixed a stare at the man. "And if any of them are still alive I'll need to talk to them." She stood up on her toes to look the man in the eyes. "Do you understand me?"

"Yes Ma'am." The man turned to leave.

"Wait," Inspector Clayson said. "Miss Summers is not in charge here. I am."

"Please take care of them, Miss Summers, or we'll have to." The man said and continued to walk away.

Buffy turned back to Inspector Clayson and took his arm again; this time with a vice like grip. "Inspector, please. Come with us and we'll tell you everything you want to know. These men are sanctioned by the government to take care of this situation. If you don't come with us now, you won't remember any of this, just like you don't remember what you really found in that alley where Sarah was killed."

Clayson knew he could break this woman's grip, at least thought he could as he watched the bodies disappear and Miss Summers' group heading back to their vans. He didn't resist and followed along.

"Inspector, what is going?" Mrs. Peach asked as she rushed to keep up.

"I have no idea, but I think Miss Summers plans to fill us in some time soon." He deliberately didn't look at the tree line where he had stationed his surveillance team. At least they would have record of what occurred here.

What Clayson didn't know was that a locator charm had exposed his team. All they would remember would be setting up to record the funeral and falling asleep.

**To be continued…..**


	8. Arraignment

**Chapter 8 **

**"Arraignment"**

**By Old Scout**

Somehow, he didn't know quite how, Inspector Clayson became designated driver of one of the vans. There'd been a significant amount of discussion about who was going to drive since Willow and Dawn had both driven out. Agent Meyers had suggested Miss Summers drive which everybody else immediately voted against. It seemed the thought of Miss Summers driving scared these people more then those guys in white masks.

"Wait." Inspector Clayson had asked as he headed for the van he was to drive. "If Dawn Summers and Miss Rosenberg had the keys how are we going to…" before he could finish his sentence several people where holding up sets of keys.

"Here ya' go Inspector." Mr. Gunn tossed a set of keys.

"We often misplace people." Buffy Summers said as she climbed in the driver's side of the van he'd been designated to drive.

There'd also been discussion of who would ride with whom, in the end Miss Summers made the decision. Mrs. Peach, Miss Summers, the strange woman with blue hair, the two FBI agents, the young woman he'd heard called Kennedy and a young woman whose name he hadn't caught took one of the vans. The woman the called Tonks didn't get in a van. She seemed to know the men in black robes.

"So, Miss Summers, what in the bloody hell is going on?" Clayson asked as they got on the road.

"Buffy."

"What?"

"Please, I get so tired of everyone calling me Miss Summers, it makes me feel old, and I'm not, old that it is."

"Okay, Buffy, what is going on here?"

"The short of it is, those were all wizards, the ones with the masks are called Death Eaters and the ones who came late and missed the all fun are called Aurors. They are supposed to keep the bad Death Eaters under control." She grinned. "They're also called Death Eater Hunters. They've never seemed all that good at their job."

"Right, and that girl Tonks?"

"Oh, she's an Auror too."

"Okay, I'm glad we got that cleared up."

"I'm not so old I don't recognize sarcasm." Buffy said sweetly.

"Yea, she majored in it in high school." Agent Johnson said from the seat directly behind Clayson.

"Hey, no comments from the cheap seats." Buffy returned.

"I'm glad it wasn't lost then." Clayson frowned. "Now are you going to tell me what is really going on or do I just drive you all right on down to police headquarters, which I should do anyway."

"I told you."

"Suppose I believe you." Clayson glanced at the young woman. "Why were they attacking you?"

"To tell you the truth, I really don't know." Buffy frowned. "I think the magic messes with their minds or something." She thought for a second. "I guess it's the same reason they killed Sarah."

"Great, wizards and magic." Clayson thought. He knew these people were a bit odd but he hadn't thought they were nuts. Of course, how else would he explain what he'd seen?

Buffy had started rooting around in the bag she was carrying. After pulling out several lipsticks, a wooden stake, a large knife and a few other things she said "Here." Handing Clayson a small piece of cardboard from an OB box.

Clayson frowned. "What's this?"

"The other side."

On the other side of the piece of cardboard was an address written in flowery script with the "I"s dotted with little hearts. It wasn't an address for any of the places he'd associated with this group.

"That's where we're going." Buffy said. "If you don't mind."

"You said you'd be answering my questions. What's going on?"

"That's where all your questions will be answered, like it or not." She made a feral grin. "Besides, I have to find my best friend and that's where I start."

"What about your sister and that girl Dana?"

"My sister is fine. Tonks will get her home once she can get free of the Aurors." Buffy got a very serious look on her face. "We're pretty sure the Death Eaters took Dana. If they did, we don't dare go after them without Willow."

"Why not?" Clayson asked as he turned onto another downtown street.

"Dana is special." Buffy said. "Willow can help her control what she is. But we've got to do it quickly before Dana's medication wears off." She turned to one of the unnamed girls in back. "How much time do we have?"

"She took a full dose." One of the girls said. "She really wanted to be clear for Sarah." She checked her watch. "It'll wear off in about sixteen hours."

"So we have less than sixteen hours to find Willow and hunt down and deal with those bastards and hope they don't do anything to Dana in the mean time." Buffy turned to Clayson all flipness gone from her voice. "Can you drive any faster? You're a cop, you won't get a ticket, and we all know it."

"If this girl's in danger, we should call the department." Clayson stated. "This is no time for vigilantes."

"That's where we're going, just not the one you're thinking of."

They soon arrived in a dilapidated neighborhood. The kind of place people walked through briskly during the day and seldom at night. "Pull over here." Buffy pointed to a corner with a red phone box that had seen better days. Glass panels were broken, the paint was peeling and the door hung crooked in its hinges. The cord for the handset dangled toward the ground with no handset attached.

The gang poured out of the van and the women headed for the call box. "Is this some kind of joke?" Inspector Clayson asked as he, Agent Meyers and Mrs. Peach watched all the others enter the box that was barely big enough for one.

"One thing I've learned in the past couple of years." Meyers said as he headed for the box. "There are things in this world that are beyond explanation."

A few seconds after Meyers entered the box Buffy stuck her head out. "Are you coming or not?"

Clayson shrugged and looked at Mrs. Peach as they stepped forward. "This feels like one of those university stunts from the sixties."

"I have a strange feeling about this." The woman replied.

When the two stepped forward Buffy looked at them very seriously. "This is your last chance to back out. Everything up to now you could deny and pretend it never happened. Or Take the blue pill and your world will change forever."

"I thinks it's the red pill." A female voice said from in the box.

"What?"

"If you take the blue pill you wake up in your bed the next morning and pretend it never happened." The girl said.

"Whatever." Buffy replied she turned back to Clayson. "So you comin' or not?"

Inspector Clayson shrugged and stepped into the box expecting it to be packed solid with bodies. Instead he found just enough room for himself and Mrs.Peach. Buffy had pushed her way back to the other side as she dug through her bag again. Finally pulling out a piece of brown paper that looked like is was turn from a shopping sack.

"Here we go." Buffy said holding up the paper.

"What's that, B." Faith asked looking over her shoulder.

"The key to the new override Willow put on the box. She said this one won't set off all the alarms like the first one did. Only she said to make sure to say it right or it could go wonky."

"What does wonky mean?" Agent Meyers ask.

"You don't want to know." Faith replied, putting her hand on his shoulder and leaning on him.

"Here goes." Buffy said and read the spell. "Elixer of herbs, Slow gin fizz, Whisk me to where the Ministry is."

"That's the stupidest spell I've ever heard." Faith said.

"She's been watching too much TV Land." Kennedy replied as she looked around waiting for something to happen. The floor started to shake.

"Watch your hands and elbows." Faith warned as the floor dropped away carrying the group with it.

"—"

Dawn sat at the kitchen table playing wizarding snarkle berry cards with Alastor, whom she learned was also known as "Mad Eye" Moody. She watched the eye start to swing forward. "Hey stop that, you promised."

"I was not cheating." The leather faced man growled.

"Yea, then why is it after they told me what that eye can do, you stopped winning every single hand?"

"Constantly looking at the back of my eye socket can be quite distracting."

"Then just turn the thing off." Dawn smiled. "I know I damned well would want to be able to turn it off if I had an eye that acted like that."

Alastor grumbled but stopped complaining.

The door to the house opened, they could hear somebody coming in brief words being exchanged between professor Snape and the newcomer. Moody had already stood and drawn his wand when a tall black man in a Wizard's robes came into the kitchen followed by Professor Snape. Dawn remembered him from the Ministry. It was Auror Shackelbolt.

"There's been an attack on muggles…" the man was saying as he walked into the kitchen. He stopped and looked at Dawn. "What is she doing here?"

"You know her?" Moody growled. "How is it that everybody seems to know this girl except me?"

"I am not a girl." Dawn interjected. "I thought we got that cleared up."

Moody turned and glared at Dawn. "It's just a figure of speech."

"How's the nose?"

Moody turned back to the new comer. "Forgive me, how is it that everybody knows about this young woman except me?" He used his magical eye to look back at the girl to see her smiling in triumph. This was just not his day.

"She's the sister of the Slayer."

"What?" Two voices said in unison Alastor Moody and Molly Weasley. Molly Weasley had come into the kitchen just as Shackelbolt spoke.

"Snape," Alsastor turned to Professor Snape who was now standing next to Shackelbolt. "Did you know this?" From the look on his face, it was obvious he had. "And why didn't you tell the Order?" He turned back to Shackelbolt. "Or you for that matter?"

"We were sworn to secrecy." Shackelbolt said. "The Ministry is trying to do the right thing, though ever so ineptly, by negotiating with The Chosen One to help in the fight against You Know Who." He looked at Dawn. "One of the Slayer's conditions was that we tell only those who were directly involved. I'm sorry Alastor, but up until now, you and the rest of the Order have not been directly involved."

"What about the attack?" Mrs. Weasley tried to change the subject.

"Was it at a cemetery?" Snaped asked.

"Yes it was. I wasn't on stand by as a first responder so I haven't been there yet." He looked at Moody. "I thought you might like to drop by and check it out."

"I'm retired, and if it's a hot spot, I'm sure the Minister would not be pleased to see me just happen to wonder by." He looked back at Dawn. "Besides, unless I miss my guess, I'd bet it's just a clean up effort now."

"You were there?" Shackelbolt asked Dawn. "What happened, how'd you get here?"

"Let's see, how about the Reader's Digest version." Dawn said. "Death Eaters attack, Dawn gets handed port key," she held up the wooden stake that had been sitting on the table. "Dawn ends up in a house with one of her Professors, a friend's mother and some old leather face dude with a wacky eye, who cheats at cards." She looked around the room. "Did I miss anything?"

The three wizards and the witch glared at Dawn.

"Guess not."

"I must get going before they miss me." Auror Shackelbolt said.

"Take me with you." Dawn said. "I'm tired of sitting around this sticky old house waiting for somebody to come fetch me home."

"Sorry I can't." Shackelbolt said. "If I showed up with you, there'd be a lot of questions I couldn't answer."

"Fine, I guess I'll just call a cab." Dawn looked around the room. "Let me guess; wizarding house, no phone."

"No what?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Never mind." Dawn sat back down at the kitchen table. She could insist on leaving. She could walk until she found a payphone. She looked at her dead cell phone. Perhaps if she got away from the magical house it would start working. But who would she call? A taxi? One of the offices? It would all be more of a pain in the arse than just waiting for somebody, Tonks, to come get her. She smiled. Maybe they'd forget about her, that would be fun she needed something righteous to be mad at Buffy over. She could use the bribery money for new clothes. Looking back at Moody she said. "I think it was your deal."

"—"

Willow had no concept of how long she'd been wherever she was. Some mountain top she assumed. The girl had stopped crying but still huddled shivering in Willow's arms. Her lips were turning blue and her skin was getting pale. The temperature had gone up inside the shield, it was now above freezing but that wasn't enough. They would still freeze to death soon enough if she couldn't get them off the mountain.

Moving ever so slowly so as not to disturb the girl, Willow looked around her as she felt the wind buffeting the shield. Ice and snow had already built up at least a quarter of the way up the outside of the shield and she could tell the snow was drifting even higher on one side.

"Concentrate." Willow closed her eyes and thought. "I have to do this now. Look out over the cliff. What's below? Clouds. What's below the clouds? More snow, more ice. Not good enough. Once she released this energy, she wouldn't be able to maintain the shield, she might not even be conscious. Look further down the slope further to where the ice and snow end. It seemed to take forever for her mind to travel down the unending slopes and glaciers of the mountain, only to find rocks and cliffs and dirt. Keep going she couldn't give up now it was taking too much power just to get this far. Past the jagged rocky cliffs some vegetation began to appear scattered shrubs and short trees forced their way out from cracks in the stone. Finally her mind's eye looked over a cliff into a valley below. Long green grass clung to the edge of a small stream while old trees marched up the floor of the valley and stood sentinel against the valley walls.

That was it, she could go no further it was now or never. If she didn't release the power now she was afraid this journey would have taken with it even what she needed to maintain her shield. Willow's eyes glowed white and white rippled through her hair.

The shield flickered blue for a second and the mound of snow on the mountain top disappeared. As the shield flickered out of existence on the mountain top, it flickered into existence in the valley far below then disappeared completely; its energy spent. A young woman with red hair highlighted by a bright streak of white lay in the middle of the soft grass. Next to her lay a young girl with dirty blond hair pulled back in a tail. The red head lay unconscious while the girl lay shivering and clinging to her side.

"—"

"Crucio!"

The curse flared around and engulfed the young woman dangling from shackles in the dungeon cell. Her body tensed from obvious pain but quickly relaxed. She made no noise, never cried for help or mercy. She just stared at the wizards in front of her.

"She may not have the strength of a slayer." One of the wizards said. "But she can resist the curses like no other."

"Perhaps when the spell that activated the slayers was cast they got different aspects of the Chosen One." One of the wizards suggested.

"That is not how I heard it." Another wizard said. "However, I admit there is something wrong with this one. Perhaps her training is not complete or she did not receive full benefits of the spell."

"Let's ask her." The first wizard said pointing his wand back at the girl. "Imperio." The curse struck the girl but didn't seem to have an effect.

"Tell me, muggle, why are you different from the other slayers?"

She continued to stare.

"Answer me bitch."

She moved; her eyes shifted to the wizard questioning her. She whispered something.

"Louder! I command it." The wizard pointed his wand at the girl. "How are you different?"

"A…" she whispered.

"What?" He stepped forward. "Tell me."

The girl twisted; moving for the first time since they'd chained her up. She kicked out connecting her foot to the wizard's mouth. The man fell back then lurched forward spitting out blood and a front tooth.

"Curcio!" One of the other wizards yelled. Causing the girl to shiver and clutch at her chains.

"Forget that, it has no effect." Another wizard said as he pointed his wand at the Slayer. He said a word and a thin blue flame jumped at the girl leaving a long red burn up the side of her face and head. The smell of scorched hair filled the cell.

She finally gave them their second word. "Amateurs."

**To be continued……**


	9. Voir Dire

**Chapter 9  
**

**"Voir Dire"**

** By Old Scout **

Mrs. Peach had followed Inspector Clayson into the van assuming he would make the proper choice. She'd been in shock. She'd just watched two girls in her care, her girls, involved in a deadly fight. She knew at least one of them had actually killed a man. How had this happened? Why didn't any of them see this coming? Somebody should have noticed before now what these little girls were being taught at that horrible school.

Then they started talking about wizards and magic. What? The inspector was playing along with them seeing where this strange woman, Buffy Summers, what kind of mother actually named her daughter 'Buffy' was taking them. Her strange story about wizard cops called "Ours" and evil wizards called "Death Eaters" made no sense at all. Why would these people be attacking a bunch of young women at a funeral? She still hadn't figured out what happened to Ms. Rosenberg or that little girl but things had become so confusing they could have gone anywhere.

Now here she was standing in a phone box with seven other people. How they could all fit into the box, she had no idea; it had to be some kind of optical illusion.

"Watch your hands and elbows." The woman with the crutches said. What the hell did that mean? The floor of the phone booth dropped away carrying the group with it.

"—"

The wooden desk shuddered and stretched as Minister Fudged held out a satchel of scrolls placing them on the newly expanded top. He sighed as he watched a gold emergency tube zip through the impossible twists of the run as it carried the report of the latest prank. It came to the end of its run with a woosh and a pop and flew across his office. Landing with a loud clang it rolled the final meters coming to a rest at his feet.

The report made no sense. Details were still sketchy but apparently Death Eaters had attacked a muggle funeral. Why would they do such a thing? The magic detection spells had picked up numerous aparations into the muggle cemetery and even, dear Merlin, a killing curse. An Auror First Response team was already en route but it was going to be awhile before their first reports would be posted.

Fudge paced across the old stone floor of his office, the leather soles of his purple shoes making a soft scuffing noise until he reached the area rug under his desk. He read the scroll for a third time before removing his bowler and holding the hat out toward the rack. One of the carved wooden birds perched on the rack woke up and took the hat in its beak.

A crystal ball rolled from its ring and crossed the desk, thumping over documents and crushing a half of a peanut butter and pumpkin sandwich he'd been saving for later. The ball rolled directly in front of him and started to glow.

"This had better be good." Fudge nearly growled at the ball. "You just ruined my lunch."

"Sorry sir," The face of a young Wizard appeared in the ball. Fudge thought he recognized him as the new Watch Wizard training in the visitors' atrium. "You, ah, have visitors who insist on seeing you right now."

"I don't remember having any appointments scheduled for today."

The minister paled when he heard the next words out of the ball. "Tell Fudgey we're coming up like it or not, unless he wants to do this here in the lobby."

"Send them up."

"But, Sir, they're…" the Watch Wizard started.

"I know who and what they are. Get an Auror to escort them and send them up." Cornelius Fudge sat heavily into his chair and tapped the crystal ball with his wand. "Mrs. Sapoesser, there are some people coming up to visit me, please show them in as soon as they arrive."

"Yes, Min…" The Secwitchtary started to reply but Fudge tapped the ball cutting her off and sending it rolling back to its corner.

Fudge looked at the report still clutched in his hand and back at the crystal ball. Were Miss Summer's visit and this attack somehow related? He remembered reading a report that a local slayer had been killed recently, but that was their lot in life. He really didn't pay much attention to it. He had more on his mind; some of the elite Wizarding families had been putting pressure on him to quiet the rumors of recent Death Eater attacks against muggles. Many wanted him to declare that acts against muggles should not be referred to as attacks at all, it made Wizards sound uncivilized which, of course, was unthinkable.

According to the old blood Wizarding families, the word "prank" was much better for describing these rare and random incidences against muggles. In fact there were efforts to make the change official. If passed, the word "prank" would be used in all Ministry communication concerning ALL magical encounters between Wizards and muggles. There was even a defamation of family character suit pending against the Quibbler for using the word "attack" in a story about a convicted Death Eater hexing muggles.

What would Miss Summers think of the new terminology? Not much he guessed. Muggles like Buffy Summers and her ilk took things too literally and rarely tried to see things from another's point of view. In the small Wizarding world, society and family reputation meant something and the impact of a poorly chosen word could ruin a family's reputation for generations. Loss of reputation would affect social standing and one's ability to earn a living. A family name was guarded and protected vigorously and to infer that a family was lowering itself to acknowledging that muggles were relevant enough to do something more then play a prank of them was just unthinkable.

Commotion could be heard outside the office door. Finally Mrs. Sapoesser pushed the door open and stepped in to the room. "Minister Fudge, your visitors have arrived."

The first through the door as expected was Miss Summers, but what he wasn't expecting was the number of people following her. First in was the other Chosen One, Faith; she was walking with a crutch and had one of her legs in a cast and an arm in a sling. Next to Faith was a short thin man with closely cut hair; he wore a long back trench coat over a dark suit. The next pair was a man and a woman also in muggle clothing. The man was older then the others with closely cropped salt and pepper hair; he wore a tan trench coat over a dark suit. Next was a middle aged woman with plain brown hair tied back away from her face. She wore a dark brown suit. Finally came two young women he recognized from their first meeting not so long ago. Great, he had four slayers and apparently three muggles standing in his office. How could this get any worse? Mrs. Sapoesser was closing the door when a gloved hand reached through the opening and stopped her. As she stepped through the opening, ice blue eyes peered out from a slightly cocked head and stared at the Minister. Yes, it could get worse.

Why was this group, except for the creature, all wearing black? Fudge looked at the report he was still holding. Great.

"Hey, Fudgey." Miss Summers said. "Can you guess why we're here?" Her words were light, but her tone wasn't.

"Miss Summers, what were you thinking exposing more muggles to our world?" Fudge replied. "We have an agreement, there are procedures."

The group was spreading out into the room. The one least interested in the conversation was Illyria. She immediately broke off and began examining the contents of nearby shelves.

"Excuse me." One of the muggles held up a badge. "I'm Inspector Clayson with the London police department. I need answers and I need them now. What is going on here? Who are you people? And what do you have to do with the attack at the cemetery and the death of Miss Sarah O'Malley?" Ever since they got into the van, these people had been telling him about witches and wizards. He still didn't believe them, but as he looked around this strange office he was starting to have his doubts.

"Miss Summers, we can't have this." Fudge said turning back to the blond. He didn't know what to do. How'd he get stuck in here alone with four slayers, three muggles and the creature?

"This is the Ministry of Magic." The slayer named Faith informed Inspector Clayson.

"And he is?" Clayson turned to Agent Johnson.

"Oh, sorry I forgot the introductions." Buffy said. "Everybody, this is Cornelius Fudge, he's the Minister of Magic. He runs this loony bin that's supposed to protect us from the idiots who attacked the funeral and kidnapped one of my girls and my best friend."

Minister Fudge picked up his wand and tapped the crystal ball. "Mrs. Sapoesser, get Director Bones in here now!"

After a few minutes a plump middle aged witch with salt and pepper hair and crisply pressed robes rushed into the minister's office. She immediately stopped and scanned the occupants. "Minister Fudge, Miss Summers, Miss ..ah… Faith." She acknowledge the ones who in her point of view were the most important of the gathering, plus she didn't remember the other two slayer's names. "To what do we owe the honor of such a…unique gathering of people?" Director Bones asked. She knew. She'd just received the latest report for the scene and knew there was a survivor at Saint Mungoes. But she sure didn't want to volunteer the information to all these….muggles.

"This is Amelia Bones, Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement." Minister Fudge said to the three muggles who wouldn't know her.

"Finally." Inspector Clayson said. He held up his I.D. again to show Director Bones. "I'm Inspector Clayson with the London police department. I've been investigating the death of Sarah O'Malley. Miss Summers here and her friends of indicated that you might know what exactly happened to her."

"I am not familiar with the name." Director Bones replied crisply.

"She was found about…." Clayson started but was interrupted.

"Miss Summers." Director Bones had turned to Buffy Summers. "Why have you brought these people here? I was sure our agreements were quite clear about whom you may and may not expose to our world."

"Excuse me Ms. Bones." Clayson said loudly. "I was not finished..."

"Inspector," Director Bones said icily. "I am the Director of Magical Law Enforcement. I am the one who asks the questions around here. Not a…" she seemed to struggle for the word. "…you."

"If you do not wish to speak to me here," Clayson said clearly. "You, Mister Fudge and everybody else can all just come down to the station with me and we'll sort it out there."

"Miss Summers, you have breached every protocol our community is based on by bringing these people here. Therefore we are not bound to our agreements with you as well. Everybody you brought here today who is not directly a member of your….team has to submit to a memory charm and be returned to muggle London as soon as possible."

Why did they keep turning to Miss Summers? Clayson thought dumbfounded at how this woman kept ignoring him. And what was a memory charm? He didn't like the sound of that. He watched this "Director Bones" more closely. She had gotten quite pale since arriving. Was she starting to sweat?

"I don't think so." Buffy finally said. She was grinning like the cat that ate the canary. She turned to Clayson. "Inspector, if you could give me a few minutes I may be able to convince the Minister and Director here to share their information with us."

Buffy turned to Director Bones. "Director Bones," Buffy glanced at the parchment the woman was holding. "I assume that is a report about the attack."

"Ms. Summers." Bones said between clenched teeth as she looked at all the people in the office. "I think Minister Fudge would agree with me when I say your behavior breaking our agreement is totally unacceptable."

"Well, Ms. Bones," Buffy replied with the same fake smile but a more controlled tone. "I know everybody would agree with me that your ability to perform your one task of tracking down and stopping Death Eaters is totally unacceptable."

Bones paled and started to sputter. "How dare you?"

Buffy held up her hand briefly and moved her thumb and fingers together like she was working the mouth of a puppet. "Yea, yea, we've already covered how I dare. Been then, done that, got the shoes." She stepped toward Bones who immediately took a step back. "Did any of our cowardly friends survive the festivities?"

With a quick nervous glance down, bones tried to conceal the scroll in the folds of her robe behind her back.

Buffy held out her hand.

"This is a Ministry matter." Bones whined. "It does not involve you."

Kennedy and the other young slayer had stepped forward to either side of Buffy. Bones could even see she had the attention of the creature from where she stood examining some trinket she'd found on a shelf.

"How many survived?" Buffy asked.

"Just one." Director Bones straightened her shoulders to stand up to the slayers. "She is at Saint Mungoes in protective custody."

"Protective custody?" Inspector Clayson asked. "Don't you just mean custody?"

"Inspector, we don't even want to go there." Buffy said to Clayson. Turning back to Bones, "Fine, you will take us there. I need to speak to the bwitch."

"Miss Summers, I absolutely can not, and refuse to, take you and your….party to Saint Mungoes to interrogate a member of one of the oldest and most influential families in the Wizarding community."

"Ah, excuse me, Miss Summers." Agent Meyers finally spoke up. "As intriguing as this situation is, Faith and I have got to get going. We have some business to take care of before we leave tonight."

"Ah," Faith pouted. "This was just getting good."

Buffy pondered for a second. "Fine, Inspector," she turned to Clayson. "Give Kennedy the keys." Then to Kennedy "Inspector Clayson, Illyria and I will stay here. You take everybody else home." Then to Mrs. Peach, "Mrs. Peach, I'm sure I don't have to ask you not to talk about this to anybody at least until after Inspector Clayson and I have a chance to talk to you later."

"Who would believe me?" Mrs. Peach whispered; a look of relief in her eyes at the mention leaving this bizarre place.

"Now wait a minute, I'm not going anywhere until they tell us what happened to Willow." Kennedy said as she stubbornly crossed her arms across her chest.

Buffy was immediately in front of Kennedy. "Do you really think I would do anything to jeopardize Willow?" She reached out, took the keys from inspector Clayson and pressed them into the other Slayer's hand. "Do what I ask. I need to make sure these people don't get to Mrs. Peach or Agent Meyers. Don't let me down."

The brunette huffed and turned toward the door. "Okay people, lets go, we have our marching orders." Kennedy bit her tongue as she turned toward the door. Once again she'd been summarily dismissed by Queen B. she smiled to herself, or was it Queen Bee? She knew if it wasn't for her relationship with Willow, she'd have been relegated to Cleveland or some other out of the hole. It didn't matter that she'd been one of the first potentials to arrive in Sunnydale and followed Buffy into hell. Now she was just another slayer. She knew in her heart that she was next in line. If the First hadn't struck and they had not been activated she would have taken Faith's place. She'd heard her watcher talking; there'd been plans. Now she was just another slayer and would never know if she actually would have been chosen.

"What about the memory charm?" Minister Fudge demanded we can't have these two muggles parading around with everything they've seen here."

"Never." Buffy said. "If you were so damned concerned about exposing your world, you would do a much better job of controlling your people." She turned back to Bones. "Now, are you going to escort us to the St. Mungoes or should I just send Smurf over to make first contact?"

Illyria looked up after hearing the odd title these creatures often used for her. She met the strange magic user's eyes. The male creature's pasty skin paled even more and his body temperature and heart rate increased. She tilted her head at it and raised an eyebrow in responses to its stare causing it to break eye contact.

"Fine." Fudge said. "Take them."

"What?" Bones couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Take them, get them out of here." Fudge turned his back on the whole room and walked over to his desk.

Director Bones looked at Buffy Summers who now had her arms folded across her chest and very smug look on her face. She looked back at Minister Fudge who was not sitting at his desk looking a scroll. "Minister, you couldn't possibly.."

Fudge looked up from his desk. "Are you still here? Was there anything else you needed Miss Summers."

"Not for now." Buffy turned to the door.

"Very good." He turned to the directory of Magical Law Enforcement. "I'll expect a full report when you return." With that he turned back the scroll.

"—"

"I'm supposed to do what?" Inspector Clayson looked at the line of fire places in the Visitor's Atrium. He had seen them on the way in but really had paid attention; there were other things on his mind.

"Humph." Director Bones sighed. She just could not relate to muggles and their petty view on the world. "It. Is. Simple. Just toss the floo powder as you step into the fire place and state your destination loudly and clearly. It is so simple, even a muggle could do it."

Clayson glared at the woman. "Apparently I am a muggle."

"I will do it." Miss Burkle said. What else did they call her? Illyria? The woman in the strange leather suit and blue hair scooped a handful full of floo, making no effort at neatness, and stepped into the burning fire place.

"No you're suppose to.." Director Bones stopped her warning as she watched the creature stand in the fire and turn to look at her. "Never mind. Throw the powder and say Saint Mungoes."

Illyria cocked a brow at the Director, tossed the floo powder and disappeared in a flash of green and blue smoke without ever saying a word. The three remaining people stared at each other.

"I wonder where she went?" Inspector Clayson asked. A smile came to his face as he saw the look of panic on the witch's face.

"By Merlin." Amelia Bones gasped. "I've never seen that before." She turned to Buffy. "Where'd she go?"

"I'm sure you'll find out soon enough." Buffy grinned. She was a bit concerned about where the former god king had made off to, but at this point she really didn't care.

"We can't have this." Bones said. "It's not acceptable to have that creature wondering around unescorted." She looked at Buffy. "You're responsible for any damages she does. I'll expect your council to take full financial responsibility for that creature's actions."

Buffy held the palm of her hand to the Director as the woman went on about restitution. "Yea, yea, what ever." She turned to the fire place. "Now Inspector, just follow me and do what I do." She looked back at Director Bones. "Remember what I said about memory charms." Buffy tossed the powder as she stepped into the fire place called out Saint Mungoes and disappeared in puff of green smoke.

"Well, I suppose if she can do it, so can I." Clayson stated as he stepped toward the fire place.

It was an odd rushing sensation as if following through a smoke filled tunnel face first. His body twisted as light rushed toward him. His feet hit the ground feeling like he'd unexpectedly stepped off an over tall step. The back side of the fireplace came into full view, then the room beyond as he stumbled out. He would have fallen if a strong hand hadn't caught him. Buffy had caught his arm, kept him on his feet and pulled him away from the fireplace.

"Look out for more in coming." The petite blond warned just as a wooshing sound came from the fire place and Director Bones stepped out. Bones immediately stepped to a nearby mirror and gestured at herself with her wand. The dust and ash from the fire place promptly disappeared. The woman's hair was also quickly fixed.

Turning to Buffy and Inspector Clayson she said. "Let's get this over. I still don't know what you hope to accomplish. We have already interviewed her and she's claimed to have been under the imperious curse which means there's very little we can charge her with."

Buffy crowded close to the witch and leaned in close to her ear. "These people took one of my girls; I don't care about laws or rules of evidence."

"But we can't just force someone to talk; there are rules and laws…" Inspector Clayson agreed.

"Think about it, Bones." Buffy nearly hissed at the director. "How were they able to grab one of my girls?"

"I have no idea." Director Bones crossed her arms in front of her try to get some distance between herself and the slayer.

"Think about it."

"I don't know. She was support staff?" The look on Buffy's face told her that wasn't true. "She wasn't at full strength?"

"Wait a minute." Inspector Clayson said. "She's the one who was being guarded. Why was she being guarded you said she was special?" And what was so important about Buffy and 'her girls'? The inspector thought. And what did she mean by not at full strength. Why was that important?

Buffy stepped away from Bones and pointed at the Inspector. "Got it in two."

"You need to guard one of your….girls?" Bones couldn't believe it. "Why? What's wrong with her?"

"Let's just say that if we don't find her within about, oh, twelve hours, you're going to find out why." Buffy turned and exited the replica of an old Victorian sitting room with way too many fireplaces. She entered a replica of a nineteen ancient times hospital with noisy chrome gurneys, brass delivery tubes and scrolls instead of charts and clip boards. She stopped in mid stride, looked around and frowned. "Okay, where am I going?"

"Humph, Miss Summers." Director Bones grumped. "This way." The woman said as she walked past the petite slayer. The woman led the small group through the twists and turns of the old hospital. Some of the hospital staff appeared like they were going to ask if they could help but quickly backed down when they caught sight of the stern look from the Director. They finally came to a hallway guarded by two tuff looking wizards with very serious frowns on their faces.

"Gentlemen, we are her to see Ms Dracheauge." Director Bones stated as she approached the two men without slowing.

"Ma'am, aren't these muggles?" One of the men asked as he started to step in front of the director effectively blocking the hallway for Buffy.

"Yes they are." Bones admitted. "Even though the accused is part of the fine Dracheauge family, she is still accused of crimes against muggles. Because of that, we have no choice but to allow the involvement of these…muggles."

"That's outrages." The other stated as he step forward blocking Inspector Clayson.

Buffy sidestepped the Auror blocking her path and continued down the hall.

The Auror drew his wand to stop the unauthorized muggle until he was able to clear this with the Director; which included verifying this woman really was Director Bones. "Hold it right there miss!"

"No don't!" Director Bones sounded almost frantic.

He glanced at the Director then something hit his chest hard enough to lift his feet off the ground and slam him hard to the ground. A vise like grip clenched his wand hand and when his vision cleared he saw the young woman looking at him with a knee on his chest to hold him down. She squeezed his hand and took the wand.

"Never, ever point one of these things at me." She said with a fake smile. "They just make me sooo nervous." The young woman stood up, handed the wand to Director Bones and headed back down the hallway toward the next set of guarded doors.

"Ma'am, are you sure this is a good idea?" one of the Auror guards asked as they entered the room. It had only taken a few minutes of explanation at the door for the next set of guards to let them in. The woman in the old style hospital bed appeared to be in her mid thirties but could have been much older.

Analyse Dracheauge looked up as the group approached and smiled. Bringing these muggles here would be the last straw. When word of this got out more people then ever would join the cause. The master's ranks would swell and they would finally be ready to take over. All proper Wizards would insist on it.

"Hi, Annie." Buffy said in greeting as she approached the bed. She looked at the bandaged shoulder and splinted hand. "How's the arm?"

"It's Lady Dracheauge to you." The woman sniffed at Buffy.

"Lady, you ain't a Lady." Buffy laughed. "You're lucky your not worm food."

"How dare you come into my hospital room and talk to ME like that?" Analyse couldn't believe this mere muggle, even if she was this alleged 'slayer' was talking to her like that.

"I dare because you attacked me at a funeral." Buffy replied and pointed at the side of the large bed. "Mind if I sit down?"

"Yes." What audacity. "And legally I did not attack your little gathering because I was under an imperious curse."

"Thanks." Buffy sat on the bed next to the injured woman. "First of all, if this Lord is so great, why do you people never admit to following him, why do you always hide behind that stupid excuse?" The woman just glared at her. "Second I need to know how to find my girl. Where did they take her?"

"I don't know, I couldn't tell you if I did."

"And Willow?"

The woman smiled and it was wicked. "That was inspired. We didn't want to deal with your friend if she was even half as powerful as the rumors said. So a port key was made to send her far away."

"Where?"

"I don't know, and couldn't tell you if I did." The witch smiled triumphantly.

Buffy turned to Director Bones. "What does she mean by couldn't? She seems pretty confident in that."

"There are spells that make it impossible for someone to repeat a secret or betray a trust. We can definitely read the traces of one of those spells on her, but not the imperious, which is much easier to hide."

"Listen to me carefully." Buffy said speaking very evenly and calmly to the injured woman. "Remember how easily we took your people down." Woman began to speak but Buffy just motioned for her to wait. "The girl they took was on medication that makes her weak. She needs it because she has little control over what makes us what we are. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yeah, so?" Analyse Dracheauge continued to glare at the muggle 'Slayer'.

"Think about it." Buffy continued. "They're holding her like a normal person. What will happen to your friends and family when her medication wears off?" She leaned down to whisper to the woman. "What will happen when somebody without a conscience gets the strength and skills of a supernatural predator?"

Inspector Clayson watched Buffy lean over and whisper something to the woman. The woman paled looked at the Inspector and Director, whispered something to Buffy then closed her eyes and turned away from everybody.

Buffy got up and headed for the door.

"What happened?" Director Bones asked. "What'd she say?"

Buffy kept walking.

"Miss Summers, what did she tell you?" Inspector Clayson pushed. "You have to tell us."

"No." Buffy said coldly. "I'm done talking."

"—"

Warm sun beat down on her face. The soft grass and earth cradled her like a mother with an infant. Willow took a deep breath breathing in the clear mountain air. A cool breeze rustled her tangled hair. As she slowly stretched her arms over her head she tried to remember what she was doing. Keeping her eyes closed Willow tried to remember where she was. Did she fall asleep in the park? Perhaps the back yard? Wait, she remembered; the funeral. The smile fell from her lips and her eyes snapped open.

Sitting up, Willow looked around the valley. A child's singing came from behind. The little girl sat by the creek playing with something in the grass. After struggling to her feet, Willow walked over. The girl had made a small figure out of grass and sticks and decorated it with little flowers. She looked up at Willow her sad eyes betrayed the game she played with her makeshift doll. "Can we go home now?" She asked. "I miss my mommy and I'm sure she misses me too."

Willow sat down next to the girl. "I need to rest first. My name is Willow. What's yours?"

"I'm Debbie." The girl declared.

Putting a hand to the ground to hold her self up, Willow continued the conversation. "Well, Debbie, that's a pretty little dolly you made there." She had to concentrate. This little girl should not be left to her own devises for the sake of a nice long nap in the warm sun.

"It's just sticks and grass." Debbie said quietly.

"Yea, but the little flowers are still pretty." Willow felt the warmth in her hand as she started absorbing magic from the earth. Concentrating on the magic and keeping the girl company was going to take time. She felt the power slowly building but fought the urge to draw it in any faster, the change to her appearance might spook Debbie. She'd have to do it slowly.

"My mommy says I'm her little flower."

"I like flowers….."

**To be continued….**


	10. Recess

**Chapter 10**

**Recess**

**by OldScout**

Buffy had just made it past the set of guards down the hall when she felt someone grab her arm. She knew who it was so she stopped and looked at him.

"Miss Summers, if you have new information on this case, then you must tell me about it."

"Inspector Clayson, haven't you figured it out?" Buffy almost pleaded. "This case is out of your jurisdiction and your league."

"Listen, I've apparently got two deaths that are somehow related, some strange group of…people manipulating the evidence and a bunch of teenage girls everybody is afraid of." Clayson stated. "I need some answers."

"I told you you wouldn't believe. Even after being to the head loony bin and this torture chamber you still can't say wizards and magic." Buffy started off down the hall, but this time at slower pace so the inspector could keep up.

"This has all been a little much to take in at one time." Clayson admitted as he walked next to Buffy. "I just need time to sort it all out."

"We don't have time. You just have to accept it or you're going to get more people killed."

"Help me accept." The Inspector pleaded.

"How?" Buffy made another blind turn down another obscure hospital hallway.

"Answer some questions."

"I'll try."

"Why you?" Even though Miss Summers had obviously slowed down so he could keep up, Inspector Clayson was still having trouble keeping up the pace, carrying on the conversation and watching where he was going.

"I really don't know." Buffy admitted. She knew they were referring to two different things but really did not want to talk about slayers right now.

"I can have you arrested for obstruction of justice." Clayson threatened. He knew it was an empty threat, but he had to say something.

Buffy scoffed. "Imagine trying to explain that one to a judge. You've been here and don't want to believe. How is a judge going to respond?" She kept winding her way through the corridors of the hospital.

"Do you have any idea how to get out of the infernal place?" Clayson asked as Buffy took another sharp turn.

"Not a clue." She responded as she continued to march forward.

"What did that woman tell you?"

"The address of a place they used to meet." Buffy responded as she found a set of stairs and started down.

"Are you going to tell me?"

"Nope. Like I said, it's not in your jurisdiction and you couldn't handle it any who."

"And you can?"

"Yep, that's what I do."

The pair walked through a couple of old oak doors at the bottom of the stairs and were in the lobby of a modern hospital.

"Hey I know this place. It's Saint Marcus." After glancing around he turned back to Buffy just in time to see the top of her head disappear into the crowd outside of the hospital. He turned back to the doors they'd just exited to find a standard pair of steel doors with word "Stairs" labeled on one. Opening the door revealed a standard tiled hospital stairwell, nothing like the old stone and slate stairs they'd just left behind. Inspector Clayson fished his cell phone out of his pocket and called the office.

"—"

Evening was coming on fast by the time Buffy got back to the nearly empty school. There was no sign of Dawn or any of the other girls. Which was good, Giles was to be getting them out of the country before Child Services showed up to start interviewing them. A message from Kennedy said she was carting Faith and Meyers all over town for what ever business Burp had them on. Buffy smiled. Never in a million years would she have guessed a slayer would go to work for the US government, let alone it be Faith. But then again, she had a debt to pay and they were the only ones who could legally say the score was settled.

Buffy popped the last piece of bubble gum into her mouth, threw away the empty pack then started to fill her duffle bag. It was standard Slayer issue reinforced military grade fabric specially formulated flat black so it wouldn't reflect light. Along with an assortment of stakes and other standard equipment, she included her 'heavy' weapons, swords, cross bows, a supped up cattle prod and a really cool hand held flame thrower Xander and Willow had cooked up.

Crack! Crash. "I'm alright!" Tonks knew how to make an entrance.

"Hoy, where is everybody?"

Buffy came down the stairs carrying her duffle bag, first she looked at Tonks then around the room. "Where's Dawn."

With a squint of her eyes Tonks looked around the room too. "I don't know…oh, wait a minute." She pulled out her wand. "I'll be right back." Crack.

"—"

Tap.

"How long is she staying here?" Snape looked across the old kitchen table at the muggle girl. Part of him still thought of her as a muggle, but part of him seemed to know better. That girl had magic, it was just that nobody had figured out how to access it yet.

Tap, tap.

"We sent Kingsley to find her. They should be back soon." Molly said as she placed a glace of juice in front of professor Snape.

Tap.

"Woman, I know that. It was my idea." Snape hissed at Molly Weasley.

Tap.

"Severus, keep a civil tongue in your head." Moody growled. "You have no call to be talking that way to Molly."

Tap.

"My apologies." Severus said through clenched teeth.

Tap.

Moody put two cards on the table and looked up to Dawn who immediately picked up the discards and laid her hand out in front of her.

"I believe I win again." Dawn said then tapped the stake/port key she was holding on the kitchen table.

Tap, tap.

"I believe that makes it twenty five galleons you owe me."

Tap.

"Miss Summers!" Severus Snape barked. "Would you desist in making that infernal noise with that stick!"

"I" Tap. "Will." Tap. "Do." Tap. "What." Tap. "Ever." Tap. "I." Tap. "Want." Tap. "Until" Tap. "Somebody." Tap. "Takes" Tap. "Me." Tap. "Home." Tap.

"You infernal child!" Snape stood and roared. "If you don't put down that cursed stake I'll…I'll…"

"Blow a gasket?" Dawn offered. "Have kittens?" She smiled as her potions professor's pale skin turned beet red. "Hey," She offered as she placed the stake in her lap. "Isn't this the wrong night for a meeting of a secret society?"

"Honey, this isn't a secrete society." Mrs. Weasley offered with her ever ready matronly smile.

"Well if it isn't," She looked at Snape and Moody then back at Molly. "The alternative is," Dawn frowned, hugged herself and shivered. "And thank you very much I did not want to go there."

Mad Eye Moody began laughing hysterically. Severus Snape got up from the table and stormed out of the room so fast his chair fell over. Molly just frowned and stared at Alastor.

"I don't understand." Molly stated.

"Don't worry, you'll figure it out eventually."

The front door of the house opened and foot steps could be heard running down the hall to the kitchen. "Hoy, oh thank Merlin, you're still here." Tonks gasped as she slid on the hardwood floor and bumped into a counter.

"Where else would I go, Nymphadora?" Dawn asked sweetly.

"Ah, just Tonks." Tonks responded out of habit.

Dawn stood up. "Sorry, Nymphadora. I forgot, Nymphadora."

Tonks paled a bit and her hair lost some of its color. "Yea, I'm reallyreallyreallyreally sorry about that. I just got busy with the clean up then reports at the office…"

"Okay." Dawn said. "Are you taking me home or not?"

"Yea, let's go." Tonks held out her hand.

"Wait." Dawn turned to Moody and held out her hand. Alastor stood up to shake until Dawn turned the palm up. "You still owe my twenty five galleons."

"You actually want to collect?" Moody asked dumb founded.

"A bet is a bet. I'm an unemployed high school student going to a private boarding school." Dawn defended. "I need all the money I can get."

"I don't carry that kind of money on me." Moody stated. "I'll have to owe you."

"I may never see you again." Dawn said. "Perhaps you can borrow…."

"Not on your life!" Snape yelled from another room.

"I'm sorry, dear." Molly replied when Alastor looked toward her. "I only carry a few sickles for emergencies."

Alastor looked back at Dawn and shrugged.

"Then I'll need collateral."

"What! What would I use as collateral?"

"Well," Dawn crossed her arms and considered. "I can think of a couple possibilities."

"—"

Crack, thump, "Ouch."

"Watch it!" Clunk. "Look what you did!"

"Don't worry, I can fix it."

"That's not the point."

Buffy listened to the noise coming from downstairs. "Yep, they were home." She hung her head for a second steeling herself for the wrath of Dawn. She pulled on a black duster made of the same material as the duffle bag and headed for the stairs.

The sound of a soda can opening accompanied Dawn's voice. "Can you believe they don't have Vernors in the Wizarding world?" Dawn griped as she wandered back into the living room.

"Dawnie," Buffy said in greeting. "Nobody has Vernors. We have it shipped in from Cleveland just for you and even they have a hard time finding it."

Dawn took a long swig from the green can then looked around the empty house. "Where is everybody, did you already send them to headquarters?"

"Mostly." Buffy admitted. "But the Death Eaters did get away with one of the girls."

Dawn paled a little. "Who?"

"Dana."

Immediately looking at her watch, Dawn looked at Buffy. "How much time do you have?"

"Ten or twelve hours." Buffy admitted. "But I've got a lead."

Dawn looked her sister up and down. "Are taking the whole team?"

"Not yet." Buffy looked at Tonks. "But I could use some help."

"You want me?" Now it was the witches turn to pale a little.

"If you're going to be part of the group its time you did a little wet work."

"What does that mean?" Tonks looked a little confused.

Dawn patted her on the shoulder. "You'll find out soon enough." Then to Buffy. "What about Willow?"

"Those bastards port keyed her somewhere." Buffy admitted. "I can only hope she's strong enough to get back or at least get safe."

"So now what?"

"We wait for Kennedy to get back and get you to headquarters then Tonks and I go check out the lead."

Dawn was looking around. "Where's Illyria?"

Buffy shrugged. "I have no idea. We were taking the floo to the hospital and she kind of went off on her own."

"That's going to be interesting." Dawn observed.

"So what's in the bag?" Buffy pointed at a small velvet bag that Dawn held in one hand.

The young brunette smiled. "Oh, just collateral."

"—"

"Your hair is pretty." A young girl's voice said.

"Hmmm?" Willow looked up from the trees she'd been watching dance and turn odd shades of green and blue.

"All the colors are really pretty." The voice spoke again.

"Hmmm? Really pretty colors? Yes, pretty." Willow concentrated on the young voice. It wasn't a really familiar voice but she knew she'd heard it before.

"When can we go home?" The girl asked.

Yes, it was a young girl. There was a little girl with her. Why? Willow concentrated where were they? She moved her head and watched the greens and blues swirl around to become browns and greens and more blues. "Home?"

"You said we could go home after you rested." The girl said. "My mommy's going to be mad."

"Yes, home." Willow hung her head and shook it. What was going on? She felt like she was high. It was the magic in her. She'd been absorbing pure clean energy from the earth. She'd never done it so slowly before and must not have noticed when she crossed the line.

"These are really pretty flowers." The girl said. "Can I pick some to take back to my mommy?"

Concentrate. Willow slowly opened her eyes as she concentrated on the voice. The little girl was sitting in front of her holding her little twig doll. All around them an assortment of flowers had sprung up. The biggest and most colorful circled around Willow then fanned out from there. "No, dear." She finally said. "Don't pick them, they're just visiting. I need to send them home." Willow waived her hand at the circle of blooms and watched them fold up and pull back into the earth. She looked at the little girl. The fog had mostly lifted. "Are you ready to go home?"

The girl, Debbie, jumped to her feet. "Oh yes, oh yes." She even clapped a little.

Willow slowly climbed to her feet. She had to concentrate to keep from floating. She could feel the pure raw energy embracing her. It was going to take a long time or some really big spells to safely return this much power back to Gaia. She figured she'd deal with that once she got the two of them home safely. "Have you ever seen the Wizard of Oz?"

"That's one of mommy's favorites." Debbie said. Her blue eyes danced with anticipation of going home.

"Good." Willow said as she stood up and straightened out. "Now I'm going to need your help to work some magic like Dorothy did in the Wizard of Oz."

"Mommy says magic is just pretend." Debbie informed Willow.

"It is pretend." Willow agreed. "But sometimes if we pretend really, really hard we can do magic too."

"Is that where the flowers came from?"

"Yes. And I sent them home, just like we're going to do." Willow stepped up to Debbie. "Now we're going to pretend really, really hard that we're going to go home." The girl looked at Willow intrigued. "Remember how Dorothy went home?"

"Oh, yes. She just clicked her heals and said 'There's no place like home.' Is that all I have to do?"

"Pretty much, but it might take a little longer; we aren't in a movie." Willow stood behind the little girl and hugged her close. "Now, I want you to close your eyes and concentrate on your home and say 'there's no place like home'."

The girl closed her eyes and starting whispering "There's no place like home. There's no place like home."

"That's good." Willow whispered back so softly she hardly spoke at all. "Now picture your most favorite room in you house." Willow slipped into Debbie's mind just enough to see what she was concentrating on. It was small room painted bright blue with clouds and a rainbow on the wall. "You have a pretty room." Willow thought at the girl. "Show me around." She guided the girl out of the bedroom into the hall and down the stairs. Family pictures and small paintings covered the walls. Furniture in the living room at the bottom of the stairs was worn but comfortable looking. "What does the outside of your house look like?" Willow asked.

"There's no place like home." Debbie whispered as Willowed led her outside.

Outside Willow saw the small row house and a narrow yard leading up from the busy street. "What a nice neighborhood." Willow thought softly to the girl. "Are there any parks nearby to play in?"

"There's no place like home." Debbie said but thought back "Down the street."

"Show me." Willow guided Debbie down the street. A block away they came to a small park with nice grove of trees in the middle. "This is really nice." Willow thought to Debbie. "Now concentrate on the trees, keep your eyes closed and click your heels together three times."

"But I don't have ruby slippers." Debbie whispered.

"That's okay; it'll still work if you want it to really bad."

"There's no place like home." Debbie said and clicked her heels together.

Willow raised the shield. There were other methods of travel that didn't take as much effort, but this was the gentlest one she knew. On the second click Willow took the image of the park from Debbie and pushed the magic to it. By the third click of Debbie's heels the shield disappeared from the mountain valley and immediately appeared in small grove of trees in the small park a block from Debbie's house.

"Okay, open your eyes." Willow said gently.

Debbie looked up to find that they were no longer in the valley but in her favorite park. She squealed with delight and grabbed Willow's hand. "Come on, take me home."

The two walked quickly through the early evening to Debbie's house. Willow stopped at the sidewalk and let Debbie go up to the door by herself. When the door opened Debbie's mother picked her up and hugged her. "Did you have a nice time visiting Aunt Mae?" The mother asked.

"I wasn't with Aunt Mae." Debbie informed her mother. "I was with my friend Willow, the witch."

"Of course, dear." The mother could be heard saying as the door closed.

Aunt Mae? Even from the street, Willow could sense the residual magic coming off the woman. Goddess, she hated memory charms.

Willow pulled her cell phone from a pocket of her blazer. "Hey, Buff, how's it going?"

"Yes, I'll be home in a few minutes." Willow listened to Buffy. "Yea, you're right." Willow looked at her watch. "I'd say less then ten hours now. I'll be there in a few minutes."

"—"

Buffy closed the phone and looked at Dawn. "At least Willow's safe."

As she spoke, the front opened letting Kennedy in. "Hey, Brat, I see Nympho was able to get you back okay. Any word on Willow?"

Buffy held up her cell phone. "Willow just called; she'll be home in a few minutes."

"Cool, that's my girl, nothing keeps her down." Kennedy looked at Buffy's supplies, ignoring Dawn's sudden coughing fit. "So, we going to finally go kick some Wiz.." She looked at Tonks. "Death Eater butt?

"Actually." Buffy said. "I've got a different job for you."

Kennedy's eyes narrowed. "Okay."

"I need you to take Dawn to council headquarters."

"So, what, you and Willow get to go get Dana on your own?"

"No." Buffy said slowly. "We're just looking for a contact. When it's time to take Dana back, we're all going in; no holds barred."

"Alrighty then." She turned to Dawn. "Let's go kid."

Buffy opened her phone and dialed. "Hey, Will, where you at? Close enough." She snapped the phone shut and looked to the back of the house just in time to see the patio door open admitting Willow. Her long hair was multiple shades of red and floated off her shoulders as if a steady wind was blowing up from the floor.

"Wow, babe, new look for you." Kennedy smiled.

"Ah, yea, I kind of absorbed too much energy in order to get Debbie back home without too much trauma." Willow grinned sheepishly. "It'll take a while to drain it off safely."

"If you don't mind, Willow," Buffy said. "Maybe you should stay charged up for awhile. We may need it. That is if you can handle it."

"They have Dana." Willow responded. "I can handle it. Besides, it's pure, nothing like that black stuff I got from the hellmouth."

"Great, we'll take the van, Kennedy, you take the car and get over headquarters. I'll need everybody ready when we find out where they have Dana." Buffy had already picked up her bag and was heading for the door.

"Why can't we take the van and you take the car?" Dawn asked.

"Because the back seat is non-existent and we're going to a part of town I don't want to leave the car in." Buffy said.

"Yeah, but slayers and sports cars are not my idea of good time." Dawn grimaced at the thought of the last time she rode with Kennedy. "I know, I'll drive." Dawn reached for the keys but Kennedy already had them.

"Too late kid; lets go."

"Um, Willow." Tonks said as people headed for the door.

Willow turned and looked at Tonks. "Yes, Tonks?"

"Perhaps you should try to reign in that power." Tonks suggested. "It's making my head spin and where ever we're going if there are any magic users there they're going feel you coming from blocks away."

Willow looked a little sheepish. "Sorry, it's still making me a little light headed." She closed her eyes and concentrated. The color of her hair faded back to normal and it settled back to her shoulders. "Better?"

"Much."

"Can you drive?" Buffy asked. "Cause if you can't I can."

"No, I'm fine, I'll drive." Willow took the keys. The last time they let Buffy drive one of the vans she rolled it over taking a corner too fast. It was the reason they bought the Eclipse and took her to the track every couple of weeks.

Outside of the Summers School for girls, Inspector Clayson sat with surveillance crew. He closed his phone after talking to the crew assigned to watching the family of Debbie Leary. "Willow Rosenberg just walked Debbie home from her Aunt Mae's." Clayson stated.

"Aunt Mae?" One of the techs asked.

"Don't ask." Clayson responded. "I understand, and I sure don't want to."

"Hey, how long ago did Rosenberg drop of the kid." The other tech asked.

"About five minutes ago. Why?"

"Well, if the Leary's are on the other side of town, how did Miss Rosenberg get here already?" The tech looked at Inspector Clayson and said. "I know, don't ask."

The crew watched a Mitsubishi Eclipse pull out of the driveway and speed off in one direction and the van with Buffy Summers, Willow Rosenberg and a young woman with green hair head in the other direction.

"Who do we follow?" The driver asked.

"Follow the van." Clayson said. "And keep the Team notified so they can meet us where ever Miss Summers and friends are leading us."

"Yes, sir."

"—"

Across town, the secret society known as the Order of the Phoenix sat down for their regular non Tuesday night meeting. This week they were short one person.

"Any word on Miss Tonks?" Albus Dombledore asked the group.

"She is apparently with Miss Summers and her group tonight." Mad Eye Moody grumbled.

"Any word on what's really going down tonight?" Severus Snape asked Kingsley Shackelbolt.

The big Auror sitting at the far end of the table just frowned. "They say Miss Summers got some information from Lady Dracheauge but she wouldn't share it with Director Bones, or the muggle detective for that matter. Fudge is afraid Summers is going to act on the information tonight. Apparently the Death Eaters kidnapped one of the girls during the attack on the funeral and Miss Summers is determined to get her back asap."

"By Merlin, that could get a lot of people killed." Author Weasley said from his chair next to Shackelbolt.

"Yea, Weasley." Snape observed. "But who?"

"Ah, by the way, Alastor." Dumbledore asked. "What happened to your eye?" He pointed to the heavy leather patch the old Auror was wearing over what was normally his wild magical eye.

As Snape groaned, Moody just growled. "I don't want to talk about it."

**To be continued…**


	11. Opening Arguments v4

Author's Note: This is the fourth version of this chapter. I've finally taken the time to properly read through it and make proper fixes and edits. I would like to thank everybody it took the time to point out all the errors in previous version. Now you know what my stuff looks like before being properly edited. Not a pretty sight. Thanks for your patience.  
Old Scout.

**Chapter 11**

**"Opening Arguments"** version 4.

**By Old Scout**

The location the Death Eater had given was not in an elite downtown neighborhood. It was in an old industrial section. As they coasted by the old factories and warehouses, they nearly missed their turns several times. Finally Willow speculated that there were subtle charms on the area to keep people from wandering into the neighborhood without reason. The buildings quickly turned from concrete and steel construction to brick and mortar. Neglected pavement broke away to reveal the original cobble stones beneath.

"Pull over here." Buffy suggested after they'd driven past a steep narrow alley. The Slayer jumped from the van and looked down the alley. Her enhanced senses let her see the bottom of the hill. It was steep and narrow, but only about a hundred feet to the bottom. Pulling open the back door, Buffy announced. "Okay, we're on foot from here." She snapped her bubble gum. "You want any weapons?" She asked the witches as she shouldered her duffle bag and opened a box installed behind the back seat.

"I don't know." Tonks looked at the supply. "What might I need?"

"Anything you know how to use." Buffy said and stepped aside to show the contents.

"I really only know how to use a wand." Tonks admitted.

"I'll take the crossbow with the shoulder strap." Willow said coming around the side of the van. "And the bag-o-knives." Willow was handed a cross bow and what looked like an old doctor's case.

"Bag-o-knives?" Tonks asked.

"Little trick I came up with in Sunnydale." Willow said. "I might not be able to perform a lot of offensive spells with the white magic, but I can still throw things."

"Here, take this." Buffy handed Tonks a small cross bow and a handful of wooden bolts. "Just strap it over your shoulder under your robes." She handed Tonks a short sword. "It's blessed." Buffy added. "It'll burn a lot of things just by its touch."

"Okay." The sword, crossbow and bolts all disappeared under her robe.

Buffy finished stashing some more weapons under her duster and slammed the door shut. "Okay, let's go. Be careful on the hill, it's pretty steep." With that, the petite slayer led the two witches into the dark alley. The hill quickly leveled out changing from worn cobble stones to hard packed earth.

"Okay, now what?" Willow asked as she tried to look into the blackness of the shadows.

"Beyond the fence." Buffy said. "That's the last instruction."

"Illuminate." Tonks held her wand up and cast a muted yellow light over the area.

To their right, the old brick wall revealed that is was an arch. The three women looked at the recess. "It looks like it's the top of a high vaulted room."

All three looked down at the packed dirt they were standing on.

"You mean this is just centuries of debris we're standing on?" Buffy asked.

"Looks like it." Willow said and approached the low opening under the arch.

An old chain link fence stretched the length the opening about a meter in from the alley. Debris and litter was strewn against the fence, including evidence that people had been staying there, including a sleeping pallet made of cardboard and the remains of a small campfire. The fence was pitted galvanized and starting to rust and corrode. Cables had been tied to the top to keep people from climbing over and getting deeper into the alcove but from the graffiti on the inside, it was obvious it was not that successful.

"Okay." Buffy said. "How do we get to the other side without leaving a big ol' calling card for Clayson when he finally gets here?"

"Well, I suppose I could.." Willow started but stopped when Tonks cast a spell.

The whole fence shuttered then drooped like it was made out of wet spaghetti. Tonks reattached the magical light to her wand so it would follow them and started to climb over the fence. "You comin'?"

"You know." Buffy observed. "She's coming in pretty handy."

"Yea. I wonder if we could get a few Wizards for the other teams." Willow agreed as the two followed Tonks.

When all three were on the other side of the fence, Tonks cast a restoring spell and the barrier snapped back into place.

The modern graffiti on the walls quickly dissipated, replaced by older and odder messages. After fifty feet or so, Willow started recognizing other languages including some demon symbolism. The hard packed fill became looser with larges pieces of debris along the edges under the low ceiling. Eventually they came to a wall with debris banked up along it. The heavily armed women stared at the dead end.

"Now what?" Tonks asked

"Something feels a little off." Willow said as she stepped forward and looked at the ancient wall with its crumbling bricks. "There's another charm here, like the one outside."

"I feel it too." Buffy said. "Like an overwhelming urge to turn around and leave." She stepped forward and climbed up on the bank. "Look at this." She stuck her hand along the wall and the others watched it disappear into the bricks.

"Is it some kind of glamour?" Tonks asked as she stepped forward to examine the phenomenon.

"No, it's a passage built away from the wall and the bricks are angled so it looks like it's a flat part of the wall.

"That is sweet." Willow was impressed. "Some slick physical camouflage and a subtle charm to help people believe."

Buffy stepped forward and disappeared into the wall. Her head reappeared. "It's more of the same on this side. Let's keep going."

The other side of the wall was more of same only dingier. There was less debris making the room seem bigger and the ceiling higher. It smelled different too, older and muskier and something else. Buffy and Willow recognized it but Tonks didn't. It smelled like the Sunnydale underground. It was a mixture of death and decay and darkness and evil.

"I was beginning to have my doubts until we found that door." Willow said. "After that and this smell, I know we're someplace…dark." She looked at Buffy in the muted yellow light of the magic torch. The Slayer had a determined looked in her eyes and slight smile on her lips. This is what the woman was made for, literally.

"—"

A white police surveillance van pulled up behind the black council van. Inspector Clayson stepped out holding a portable radio to his ear. "You were right behind us. What happened?" He listened for a second. "Yea, I know we circled the block a few times but you shouldn't have lost us so easily. Okay, listen, what street are you on? Great, just keep going north there'll be a turn on your right." Clayson watched down the deserted street. Old brick factories and warehouses loomed and crumbled on either side. The black Special Teams utility van rolled past.

"Stop." The Inspector said. "You just drove past…trust me, just back up." The big box of the van slowly backed into sight. "Keep going, now stop and look right." Clayson turned to his driver. "Blink your lights." Then back to the radio. "You see us, good, now turn." He watched the truck blink its lights and slowly turn on to the street.

"Where do you think they went?" One of Clayson's techs asked. "None of the buildings look occupied or accessible."

The six men in the Special Team's van jumped out and started suiting up with Kevlar helmets, body armor and automatic weapons. They were a diverse group hastily pulled together from a number of Clayson's contacts. This little expedition was barely official and was being treated as a training exercise. They all wore police issue black uniforms and armor but for some it was new. Two of the men were fresh from duties in the Middle East, one was from an elite anti terror unit and two were from the department and had procured all of the equipment.

"Sir, are you sure all this fire power is necessary?" Lieutenant Mitchell asked.

"We're looking for a suspected drug ring and peopled involved in the torture death of a John Doe found in a warehouse not too far from here." Inspector Clayson replied. "Now let's take a look in that van and see if there are any clues to where those three went."

Lieutenant Mitchell looked around the abandoned warehouse district. He'd never been here before which was rare because he'd been born in London and prided himself in knowing all the back alleys and dumps around town. The place felt weird yet somehow familiar. It was a strange dejavu feeling. Finally he placed it; it felt like when he had visited his great-grand parents' house when he was a kid; all the strange toys and fun places to hide. He looked around again as his team mates spread out and surveillance techs opened the black van. Where had the women gone off to? His eyes landed on a shadow behind Inspector Clayson. Mitchell brought his gun back up to a ready position and approached the shadow. It wasn't a shadow; it was the opening to an alley. Why hadn't they noticed that before?

"Sir, what about here?" Mitchell stepped up to the alley and looked down the steep hill.

"Why didn't we notice that earlier?" One of the other men asked. Was it Sergeant Dover?

Inspector Clayson was about to check out the alley for himself when one of the men at the van reported. "Inspector, you'd better look at this." The man had the back door of the van open and had cut the lock off a large box that was bolted to the floor. The box contained swords, crossbows, knives, wooden stakes, several crucifixes and bottles of holy water.

"Well, it's consistent with the items found in Miss O'Malley's room." Clayson said. And thought; what in the world does all of this have to do with these damn wizards?

The six man team had never worked together before but each man had worked with at least one other team member. They started down the hill in standard two by two cover. A few steps into the dark and heavily shadowed alley they switched to night vision. Inspector Clayson stayed close behind keeping a hand on the sixth man's shoulder so they'd know where each other was at all times.

At the bottom of the hill they looked up the far side then around to the arch and its fence. A dim light at the far back of the alcove flickered for a second then disappeared.

"I think they went that way." Lieutenant Mitchell observed. As he spoke the team pulled out light sticks and looked at the fence to find the passage. The fence was solid and intact but they could see the disturbed earth on either side were it appeared somebody had climbed the contraption.

"Does anybody see a gate, opening or way to climb over?" Clayson asked.

A couple of the men stepped forward to examine for the fence for a gate. There was no obvious way to get by. Clayson suspected the answer, magic, but he wasn't about to mention that. He keyed his radio. "Hey, Jimmy, bring down some bolt cutters."

"Right away boss." The kid replied.

The group watched up the hill as the young tech rushed by the opening of the alley carrying a pair of bolt cutters.

"Where's he going?" Dover asked no one in particular.

"Would somebody go fetch the bolt cutters?" Clayson asked the crowed.

His radio keyed back on. "Inspector, where are you guys again? I can't remember which building you went in."

Clayson hung his head. If he hadn't been to that Ministry today, he would have thought this kid a complete idiot. "We're sending somebody." He keyed back.

After sending somebody to the top of the hill and talking him back down through the radio, they discovered the fence was a lot stronger then they originally thought the cutters would not cut any part of the fence or the cabling. Next was a cutting torch. This was going to take a while.

Meanwhile, several hundred meters ahead, three women were looking into a pit. Buffy, Willow and Tonks had come to the end of the debris filled room to find they were at the top of a semi circular wall made of crumbling red bricks. The debris pile had petered out and they now stood on a floor of old cobblestones. The three peered down into to the pit. Faint light at the bottom indicated a tunnel continued on under the wall in front of them.

"Now what?" Tonks looked at her two companions and back to the pit. She felt okay with the adventure so far, the place had been totally black, with no sign of other creatures and it was big enough to maneuver in so she figured she'd have time and room to cast or escape if something attacked. Now the way was getting narrower and there were signs the place was occupied.

"We find out what's down there." Buffy said as she drew a sword and stepped off the edge. The slayer fell the twenty feet and landed on her feet with a bounce. Looking around for locals and seeing none, she said. "Okay, let's go."

This time Willow stepped off and fell straight down the same as Buffy, only just before landing, she held out hands and slowed down. She landed with the amount of force equivalent to jumping off a three step porch.

"You coming, Tonks?" Buffy asked.

"Ah, yea, just a second." How to do this? Aparate? That was tough in short tight distances and she was never much good at landing. Levitation? That was a hassle and she didn't have much control once floating.

"Want me to float you down?" Willow asked trying to be helpful. It wasn't.

"No, stand back, give me room to land." Tonks instructed and watched Buffy and Willow step out of sight into the mouth of the tunnel. She released the light from her wand. They wouldn't need it down below, there were torches.

CRAACK!

The two jumped back a bit when the young witch aparated in front of them. Buffy reached up and patted Tonks on the back. With a look from her friend she said. "Just making sure you didn't break anything."

"Stow it." Tonks said and turned down the tunnel. "Let's go."

They were in a main tunnel with smaller tunnels and alcoves branching off in all directions. Old lantern pots burning foul smelling grease dotted the walls with supplemental light provided by old bare yellow light bulbs dangling from cloth covered wiring. Muffled noise came from the far end of the passage from behind a large wooden door marked with centuries of grease, dirt and countless fights and disturbances. Without hesitation Buffy grabbed the door's large wrought iron handles and pulled it open.

The two witches walked next to each other behind the petite blond slayer. The room was large and crowded. Old heavy plank tables were scattered throughout. All tables were occupied by an assortment of creatures. A wall to the right hosted a long service bar crowded with stools and more creatures. Dusty old kegs, new clean bottles and decanters lined the back shelf as several similar looking creatures fetched orders for patrons, collected coin and occasionally slammed an offending patron's head down on the bar. On the wall above the bar was a series of shelves with skulls and rotting heads of assorted creatures. Most notably were two cracked and bloodied masks from Death Eaters hanging from pegs on the edges of a shelf. Signs carved in different languages hung above and below the shelves. Buffy recognized some of the languages as demon and others as human. The only English one was written in a script she couldn't make out at first. Finally she realized it read. "Those who didn't pay their bill."

Scanning the crowd Willow thought she could see several Wizards and Witches from Tonks' community. Several patrons had turned to look at the new comers but few gave them a second glance. Several vampires at a nearby table licked their lips and stared at the three young women. "Perhaps we should just blend in." Willow said softly.

Tonks agreed. "If we don't draw attention to ourselves we should be able to get to the Wizards without too much trouble." She whispered softly.

Buffy slipped her duffle bag from her shoulder, opened the top zipper then allowed it to drop to the ground. She put two fingers in her mouth and made an ear piercing whistle. "Listen Up!" Buffy said loudly as she pulled her shoulder length hair into a pony tail and put a rubber band in it. Noise in the room quickly died down as all eyes and assorted visual appendages turned to the blond.

"I have come here to kick ass and chew bubble gum!" Buffy proclaimed.

One of the nastier looking vampires at the nearby table turned to his friends and laughed. When he turned his head, Buffy spat her wad of bubble gum at him hitting him solidly in his long greasy hair. "And I am all outta bubble gum."

Tonks paled and looked at Willow who'd also gone pale. "She's got to stop watching movies with Andrew." It was all she had time to say before the vampire pulled is fingers away from his head to see the long strands of pick gum stuck to them and attacked.

The vampire charged so fast Tonks barely had time to move her attention from Willow to Buffy before the Slayer ducked under his lunge and flipped the creature. It landed on its back with a loud oomph and Buffy staked it before it even had time to start trying to get back up. As she straightened up, she reached into her bag and came out with a cross bow and a sword. She immediately shot another vampire from the same table, letting the crossbow drop to the floor as soon as the trigger was pulled.

A Kraeknosh (the second 'k' being silent) demon sitting at another close by table had stood as soon as the first vampire charged. It stepped forward unfolding it vertical mouth allowing the blood from its latest meal to drool out. It reached for the human female in time for her to swing around with her sword a slice off a claw.

The demon bellowed as Buffy ducked under the thrash of its other claw. As she ducked she kicked the thing in its lower reverse knee. She stood and swung the sword again this time slicing open its abdomen.

"What do we do?" Tonks asked as she watched Buffy gut one of the ugliest creatures she'd ever seen and immediately start for another that had been at the same table.

"Watch her back and don't let any Wizards leave." Willow replied as she let her magic out and started looking for Wizards. She started putting up barriers and shields to keep the wizards in while allowing anything else to leave, if it wanted to. Willow let go of the bag-o-knives which snapped open when it hit the floor.

Buffy dispatched the second Kraeknosh in time to see two more demons step from the crowd. She glanced to Willow and Tonks just long enough to see them using different barrier, light and flame spells to protect themselves and to keep her from getting totally mobbed. Buffy turned back to the two new opponents when something hit her from the side. Her sword clanked to the floor and rattled across the room as Buffy fell she twisted in the creatures grasp, grabbed it by the shoulders and flipped it away just as she landed on her back. Spinning her legs, Buffy jumped back to her feet.

"You loose." One of the new creatures hissed.

It stood over the weapons bag while its partner held her sword. Buffy reached under her jacket with both hands, producing a sword with one and a cross bow with the other. She fired the crossbow imbedding a wooden bolt in the left eye of the creature standing over her bag. The other creature saw its friend collapse but the distraction was all Buffy needed to do a low somersault coming out just in front of the demon to run him through with her short sword. As it staggered back, Buffy grabbed her first sword from it and used both to hack through its thick neck and remove its head. She took a solid leap to the side, swinging one of the swords at the other creature still clawing at the bolt in its eye. Its head separated cleanly from its neck and landed with a sold thud.

Holding her own was all Tonks could do. Keeping the demons away from Buffy as well was a pretty tall order. Luminous and fire spells were keeping the sun challenged creatures away and some barrier spells were keep the other creatures back but it was tough to protect herself, Buffy and look for Death Eaters all at the same time. Finally, something broke through her defenses and landed a heavy blow knocking her wand loose and sending it skidding across the floor.

"Ah, what good is a Wizard without its wand." The demon snarled. "About as good as a human without its head." And it lunged at Tonks.

Three things happened at the same time; the creature lunged, Tonks pulled her sword and she heard Willow say "thicken." The creature's legs suddenly bound together and it fell towards Tonks instead of attacking her. Tonks had just enough time to raise her sword so the demon impaled itself as it fell forward on top of her. The contents of the creature's abdomen spilled out as it crashed into her and knocked her to the ground.

Seeing two more creatures approach her, Tonks changed form (a little trick she'd never mentioned to Buffy or Willow). Her new form was a large burley man with a beer belly, wide shoulders and green stubby hair and beard. She maintained the form just long enough to push away the carcass and regain her feet.

"Accio wand." Tonks held out her had hand and summoned her wand as she changed back to her common form. The instant the wand was in her hand, she started casting again. "Petrificus Totalus" the first creature stopped in mid stride and fell forward. Something about the smell of the second made Tonks try a different spell. "Incendio." Normally the spell would have set part of the clothes on fire; this time the whole creature bust into flames. As she jumped away from the flambé demon, Tonks thrust her sword into the chest of the creature she did the petrificus spell on. Seeing another creature approaching she hit it with a blasting curse. And the fight went on.

When the demon fell on Tonks, Willow was about to help her when she saw her change shape into a large man just long enough to get loose then switch back. The red head smiled. Nice trick she thought then saw a wizard by a back wall pointing his wand at Buffy. With a thought and a flick of her wrist, Willow sent four knives flying across the room, pinning the man's arm to the wall in his robe. Willow looked down on the room. When had she climbed up on a table? She hadn't, she was floating. As she waived her hand to get her magic controlled, Willow saw another Wizard, this one actually wearing a Death Eater mask trying for a door. She sent a shield at the man pinning him against the door he was reaching for.

Buffy had been doing well, but soon found herself separated from her bag and facing six vampires, a third Kraeknosh demon and walking carpet with a battle axe. "Oh, great; I hate those things." Buffy sighed and grabbed a stake from the back of her belt. "Willow, a little help here." Buffy thought at her friend.

"All out with your tricks little girl?" One of the Vampires laughed as he watched her bring out a single stake to face them all with.

Buffy smirked and spun the stake. "Oh, no, I still have my big gun."

"The one with the Thriller jacket." Willow thought at Buffy. Willow was busy holding back and containing Wizards to offer much help for Buffy.

A quick glance around Buffy saw a vampire wearing a red leather jacket decorated with broken and dangling zippers. She threw her stake with enough force it went through the vampire and dusted a second one behind it. The dusted vamps gave Willow the opening she needed to magically push Buffy's bag past the demons to the slayer's feet.

"Get her."

Buffy dove to the floor, reached into the bag, grabbed a canister and rolled back to her feet. She pulled a lever and sprayed the surrounding demons with a thick substance the consistency of half melted Jello. The vampires jumped away expecting it to be holy water.

"What the hell was that, bitch?" One of the rougher looking vamps asked.

"Here, see for yourself." Buffy pushed a button on the canister threw it to the vampire and jumped toward an over turned table.

"Shields up!" Willow yelled telepathically at Tonks just before the canister exploded in flames and dousing the surrounding creatures with more accelerant. The six demons Buffy had doused exploded in flame as rest of the room dove to the floor to escape the sudden flash as it bounced off the floor, walls and ceiling. The gel burned so fast and hot, nothing else caught fire but a lot of wood and demons where singed.

Standing up from behind the table, Buffy pulled on a pair of gloves she'd been carrying and picked up one of her swords. She approached the Kraeknosh demon which was rolling on the floor trying to extinguish the flames. A heavy swing cut most of the thing's head from its shoulders as the hot blade sizzled from the demon's blood. Buffy looked around at the remaining patrons, challenging the next takers. There were none.

Dul-Worvenak of Chuvnosh clan of Grey's demons worked in his opulent office; opulent being a relative turn when speaking of demons, even Grey's demons. The Dul thought of himself as pretty savvy business man. Man being a relative term, in this case loosely applied meaning an adult male of a species. Over the past two hundred or so years he'd put together a nice little operation with the help of the human wizards setting up avoidance charms. His community thrived and everybody paid taxes to him. He'd made it pretty clear death or taxes. The demons had chosen taxes. It all ran smoothly out of the bar which was a nice little enterprise in and of it self. Recently though things had started really hopping. Something happened in the human word a few years ago that tipped the balance. Now more demons then ever were seeking sanctuary. That was fine by him it just filled his pockets even more.

The door to the office flung open. It was Mol-Worvenak, a moderately dominate male from their mother's fifth nesting. The Dul being the third most dominate of the first hatching was naturally a better business man then Mol. Mol also tended to be lazy and ate too was but as of yet had not put on the impressive girth their mother had achieved. "There is trouble."

"What?" The Dul asked looking at the wheezing Mol.

"There's a Slayer." Mol huffed. "She's killing the patrons."

"I'll be right out." The Dul replied. "Now go protect our assets." The Dul stood and looked at his silver-grey complexion in a mirror. His sharp narrow nose and bushy brows distinguished him as a member of the Chuvnosh clan. He pulled his Armani jacket over his finely tailored vest and straightened his silk tie. A slayer was a primal beast but even she should recognize class and be willing to negotiate a truce. If not, he'd always wondered if the marrow from a slayer was more succulent then other young human females.

The Dul started down the short hallway just in time to hear a human female say "Here, see for yourself." He took one more step before the hallway flashed with flame. He had just enough time to turn and cover his face before the main force of the flash rushed by and was gone. Standing back up, he could feel the back of his suit coat smoking from the flash fire. This was no ordinary slayer.

Before facing the human, The Dul stood in the shadows of the hallway and watched. He was in time to see her remove most of the head of one of his top enforcers. She stared at the rest of the room. She did not impose a commanding figure. If he'd been a younger Grey and he'd seen her on the street he would have thought of a meal. He shook his head, no, not this one, she was the dominant of her litter, maybe of her clan. The dominant of a clan of predators had to be dealt with carefully, diplomatically. He was about to step out when he saw her approach the bar.

The slayer was covered in blood, dirt and soot; open wounds dripped blood down the side of her face and soaked the sleeve of her jacket. Her hair kept falling in her face as she looked at the grime covered stool now splattered in blood and goo and still smoking from the flash. Buffy grimaced at the stool, turned to Tonks and motioned at the piece of furniture.

The young Witch pointed her wand, said a word and the dirt melted away revealing a fine old piece of wood. Tonks grinned; it'd been a long time since she'd gotten that spell to work right. Buffy put her sword on the bar and jumped up on the stool just in time for Mol-Worvenak to approach.

"Woman, do you know what you've done?" Mol growled at Buffy. "Do you know how much this is going to cost to fix, not to mention the lost profits?"

Buffy gave him her best 'Do I look like I give a damn?' smiles but didn't say a word.

"You're going to pay for this if we have to put a bounty on every one of your clan members' heads until YOU make good." As he spoke, Mol's mouth pulled back into a vicious feral growl.

"Are you in charge here?" Buffy finally asked

"I am the manager." Mol admitted. "The Dul is the owner."

Grabbing her sword with two hands, Buffy jumped up and slammed the blade down on Mol. The blade cleaved through the Grey's demon from shoulder to abdomen. As the creature fell, Buffy let go of the sword and watched him crumple boneless to the floor.

Buffy held her hand to her side and let Willow magically toss the other sword to her from across the room. She turned to the shadowed hallway and the creature standing just out of sight. "Are you the doll?"

The Dul stepped out of the shadows as the Slayer placed the second sword on the bar. "What's this about a bounty?" She asked. "Do you really want me to set up shop down here?"

"My clan brother sometimes had problems choosing which people to deal with diplomatically." The Dul said. "I am The Dul-Worvenak, the second Dominant of the Chuvnosh clan. This is my tavern and the protected grounds around it are my territory."

"You've done a very good job of staying under the radar until now." Buffy stated.

"And what, may I ask, changed that?" The Dul asked. He knew this creature didn't just come here for the hunt. Her and her witches had let too many patrons flee. There were three however that were being restrained. They were the only kind of humans who frequented the sanctuary.

"Some Wizards have declared war on us." Buffy said. "Anybody who shelters or supports these death munchers can expect a visit from me or mine."

"I swear by my mother's birthing nest, I didn't know these wizards were planning an attack on your clan." The Dul could barely breath he was so mad. The wizards had betrayed the sanctuary. They planned an attack from this very tavern which exposed the sanctuary and brought down the wrath of the Slayer and her witches. He had to be careful here. He could sense the strength of the Slayer and the power of the red witch. The female Wizard he was not sure of, but if she was with this pair she must have earned her place. "Perhaps we can come to an understanding, a treaty if you will, between yourself and the sanctuary."

"How do I know you have the clout to enforce any such treaty?" Buffy asked.

The demon straightened up. "Because I am The Dul." He couldn't believe anything would dare question his authority. She just raised an eye brow at him.

"Tell you what; you'll have a chance to prove it here in a few minutes." Buffy said. "There are some normal humans following us." She watched the doll stiffen. "If they get safe passage out of here without any one of them coming to any harm, it will prove you are the one to talk to."

"And if?" The Dul knew the answer but he was still a demon and needed to be threatened. A threat from a creature that was not dominant to him was just a challenge.

The Slayer leaned forward. The human was gone from her eyes. Only a predator remained. "I will set up shop in this tavern and bring in an army of slayers to exterminate every single foul inhuman creature that slithers through these tunnels."

"And if I grant safe passage?"

"I will consider negotiations."

The Dul grit his many rows of teeth. Stories had circulated about The Slayer. He was starting to believe them. He was no longer alpha dominate down here, this human was. He could either accept her dominance or challenge her right to negotiate. He motioned to one of his juniors. The youngling, Pel, came over quickly. Keeping out of reach of the slayer. "Spread the word." The Dul said. "Humans are coming down. They are not to be approached or harmed. Any creature that allows himself even to be seen by this group will answer to me." He looked at Pel. "Understood."

Pel nodded vigorously then fled.

Leaning over the bar, Buffy looked down at Mol. "How long before he wakes up?"

"About an hour after the sword is removed." He watched the slayer nod and jump down from the seat. This was not good. She knew his kind and was telling him so. It was another threat. If she knew what didn't kill, then she knew what did.

"No more talk of bounties and debts." Buffy stated.

"You are not responsible for this. You did not ask for sanctuary." The Dul looked at the three wizards the witches were guarding. "Their kind is responsible."

"Well." Buffy said. "You can have them when we're done with them." She walked away and picked up her duffle bag. From the bag, she pulled three wooden crucifixes and placed them around the necks of the Wizards. She turned to Tonks. "Do you have their wands?"

The young Auror held up the three wands. "I checked them for backups as well."

"Good, send them on their way."

Tonks walked up to each magically bound and gagged wizard and touched the crucifix with her wand. With each touch the Wizard disappeared with a pop.

"Well." Buffy turned to Willow. "Lets go and talk to our new guests and see if after this little show they're impressed enough to tell us where to find Dana."

**To be continued…**


End file.
